Not all favor Kailua
road changePart of Kailua Road will become
one-way to help promote safety
The city will start work Wednesday on converting a short section of Kailua Road to one-way at South Kalaheo Avenue, the entrance to Kailua Beach Park, to make the intersection safer.
But while some residents say they like it, others say it will create a traffic jam.
Traffic will be one-way mauka-bound on Kailua Road between Kalaheo Avenue and the Kailua Beach Shopping Center.
A pedestrian path will be widened to allow foot traffic from the shopping center, where people rent beach equipment, to cross Kalaheo to the beach park.
The city Department of Transportation Services should finish construction in a week, and the project will be evaluated during a six-month trial.
Makai-bound traffic on Kailua Road will use the existing lane that veers off Kailua Road to go toward Lanikai onto South Kalaheo Avenue fronting Kalapawai Market.
Linda Librie, general manager of Kalapawai Market, said the change will "make it much safer for pedestrians." Right now, customers of Kailua Sailboards & Kayaks have to walk down a narrow shoulder; that will change as the walkway is made wider.
The one-way conversion should not affect cars going toward Kaneohe on Kalaheo, because the street is undergoing construction and people avoid traveling on it, Librie said.
Most cars coming from Lanikai want to turn mauka toward Kailua, and the new one-way conversion will accommodate them, she said. And cars coming from Kailua town usually head toward Lanikai, so they can turn right at the triangle fronting Kalapawai Market, she added.
Seyth Reppun, a 20-year Kailua resident, is against the one-way change and favors a roundabout (a circular road in which motorists have to yield to each other) because sometimes there is no traffic.
"It's going to back up traffic going into Lanikai so bad," she added.
Roy Ishida, a mailman whose route has taken him through the area for 10 years, said the existing two-way intersection is dangerous because cars coming down Kalaheo from Lanikai make it difficult to turn left. He is worried, however, that traffic will "get bottled up" at the turnaround fronting the market.
Mona Roblin, office manager for Kailua Sailboards, has worked at the Kailua Beach Shopping Center for 20 years and has seen "pedestrians hit and accidents happen. We need a (traffic) light. ... It's a dangerous, dangerous place."
"Basically it's a good idea," she said, "but I'm afraid traffic will back up on Kalaheo," as it did when the intersection was closed for sewer repair a few years ago.
"Then local (people) will avoid the whole area. And it could hurt our business," she added.
