RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Students from Kapolei Middle School cross the intersection of Kamaaha Avenue and Kapolei Parkway after school.

---

Safe passage

New Kapolei stoplights aim to help
kids reach school in one piece

The state is finally installing traffic lights near schools in Kapolei after years of community worries that another child would be severely injured crossing a wide, busy street.

"It is certainly about time," said Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/ Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board. "Everybody wishes it was yesterday."

Traffic lights are being installed by the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii in four key areas near Kapolei Elementary, Middle and High schools. The $1.5 million project started in January and is expected to be completed by the middle of the month.

The agency approved plans to install stoplights near the schools in August 2002, several months after a 14-year-old girl was seriously injured when she was struck by a construction truck fronting Kapolei High School.

Kapolei Elementary Principal Michael Miyamura said two other students were struck by vehicles on Kamaaha Avenue in separate cases a few years ago. He recalled that one of the students, in elementary school, suffered internal injuries.

The housing agency owns and maintains roadways in Kapolei until they are turned over to the city.

Timson's sentiment on the stoplights was echoed by community leaders, principals and residents. But the agency said it took three years of designs and procedures to get the stoplights installed.

---

---

Lolita Takeda, president of the Parent Teachers and Student Association for Kapolei High School, said she had been trying to get the stoplights installed for years because of concerns about students crossing the wide six-lane roadway fronting the school.

"It's not right for our children to be in harm's way when they are trying to get to school," Takeda said. "It's not fair for us to be worried about our kids, just wondering whether they get to school safely."

Warren Wegesend, general manager of the Villages of Kapolei Association, said the community was divided on the issue. "There was a segment of the community who wanted traffic signals. The other part preferred something else, such as roundabouts," he said.

"Hopefully, it does what it's intended to do, and that's saving lives and making the community a safer place," he said of the traffic light installation.

The Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii and the Department of Education hired crossing guards near the schools to help students until the project is completed.

Crossing guards will not be retained near Kapolei High School once the stoplights are installed, but guards near Kapolei Elementary and Middle schools will continue helping students cross the roadways, according to city and state officials.

---

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Traffic signals have yet to be installed, but the ground work appears to have been started. The intersection is frequented by large trucks going to and from a construction site in the area.

---

As students streamed across Kapolei Parkway one recent day after school, cars, school buses and construction trucks inched toward the middle of the four-way intersection of Kapolei Parkway and Kamaaha Avenue.

"Traffic lights are needed here. Before and after school, traffic is really heavy," said police officer Clayton Chung, who was hired by Dick Pacific Construction Co. to monitor traffic at the intersection for construction trucks working at a nearby site.

Some parents said they were glad to see the lights installed at Kamaaha Avenue and Kamaaha Loop. The lights are not yet working.

Seated in her minivan in front of Kapolei Elementary waiting for her son, resident B.J. Strickland said cars "just fly down" four-lane Kamaaha Avenue. Strickland said she doesn't allow her son, first-grader Cade Strickland, to walk to school because of the speeding cars.

Resident Roger Shook said Kapolei had seen an influx of people and cars since he moved there in 1993. Shook, who picks up his 8-year-old daughter Makamae from school, said the traffic lights are long overdue.

After plans were approved, the housing agency went through a series of designs before the city approved the final design in September 2004, said spokeswoman Georgina Lopez.

Lopez said the housing agency also had to go through the procedures for contract bids and city permits before installation could start.

"We do need it," said Principal Annette Nishikawa of Kapolei Middle School. "As to how effective they are, it only depends on the people."

---

BACK TO TOP
|

State also plans traffic light
at Kamaaha, Fort Barrette

As traffic lights are installed near three Kapolei schools to ensure pedestrian safety, a state transportation official said plans are under way to put another traffic signal at Fort Barrette Road and Kamaaha Avenue.

"Campbell Estate is currently designing the extension of Kamaaha Avenue, which will connect to Kamokila Boulevard. As part of the extension project, a traffic signal will be installed at its intersection with Fort Barrette Road," said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
The project is in the permit review process, and the traffic light will likely be installed sometime next year, Ishikawa said.

There are no immediate plans, however, to install traffic lights at the intersection of Fort Barrette Road and Kapolei Parkway, he noted.

"However, Schuler is coming in for a 1,000-unit residential development in the near future on the Waianae side of Fort Barrette Road. A signal will likely be constructed when Kapolei Parkway is extended across Fort Barrette Road as part of their project," he added.