Makakilo gets 106
traffic safety signs

The move comes after a teen
was hit and killed in April

City crews completed installation Sunday of 106 traffic safety signs along Makakilo Drive, where a 15-year-old boy died in April while trying to cross the busy thoroughfare.

"Our crew worked overtime to install the signs, as the community requested," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said. "We are well aware of the concerns raised by residents in the wake of April's tragic accident."

City spokesman Bill Brennan said the signs installed included those marking a school zone, school crossing and pedestrian crossing. There were also speed limit signs. Most of the signs are fluorescent, Brennan said.

The city had said the signs would be installed by the start of August, but crews were backlogged with other projects. By last Friday about half the signs were up.

Fifteen-year-old Nathan Curry was killed April 4 when he was struck by a pickup truck while trying to cross Makakilo Drive. After the death, many Makakilo residents asked the city to take steps to slow traffic along the road.

In addition to the signs, the city has already committed to putting in new crosswalks and pavement markings. But some are also calling for a traffic-calming project, which they say is long overdue.

The city has said it has a plan to slow traffic on the roadway but that the signs were a bigger priority.