LIHUE — Donald Nagamine and his wife Evelyn have lived on Kaana Street in Lihue for the past 40 years. For most of that time, traffic and pedestrian safety surrounding nearby Elsie H. Wilcox Elementary School has always been an
LIHUE — Donald Nagamine and his wife Evelyn have lived on Kaana Street in Lihue for the past 40 years.
For most of that time, traffic and pedestrian safety surrounding nearby Elsie H. Wilcox Elementary School has always been an issue.
For about 10 of those years, Nagamine would regularly walk his children to Wilcox and can still recall having a few close calls with motorists driving on the 0.7-mile stretch of road that begins on Kuhio Highway and loops around to Rice Street.
“It’s a mess over there,” Nagamine said about the Kaana and Hardy Street intersection near his home. “To me, it’s like a disruption for the guys who are crossing or coming out (of the school drop-off area). If you could focus away the traffic one way as you cross or anything, it’s better, but when you have people turning, then it becomes difficult.”
County officials say this should change.
It’s moving forward on a $9.2 million project aimed at improving Hardy Street to meet the county’s newly-implemented Complete Streets policy. That policy seeks to create walkable, commuter-friendly communities.
According to proposed Department of Public Works plans, two travel lanes with a landscaped median, turn lanes, bike lanes on both sides of the street, on-street parking, planter strips and continuous sidewalks will run the length of Hardy Street.
Plans also call for installing a roundabout at the intersection of Umi and Hardy streets and an expanded bus shelter for the Kauai Bus next to the Lihue Civic Center.
The project includes $7.9 million in construction costs, contingency, construction management costs, planning and procurement consultant work, and work between county and state agencies, according to state Department of Transportation documents. About $7.3 million, or 80 percent of those costs, will be funded by the Federal Highway Administration. The remaining share of those costs, totaling $1.8 million, will be paid for by the county.
The plans were showcased at an open house in Lihue Tuesday, attended by dozens of people.
Michael Packard, traffic engineer at Honolulu-based county consultant SSFM International, Inc., said rapid flashing beacons would also be installed at two sidewalks fronting Wilcox Elementary School to bolster safety measures for children.
“The intent is to make people drive slower on Hardy Street and make it more friendly and useable for bicyclists and pedestrians,” Packard said Tuesday.
“Our intent is to make the road easy to use by all, and hopefully, people making trips during lunchtime or kids going to and from school won’t have to drive,” he added. “This project is to lay out what our roads could be — what Kauai and Lihue can do to make this a more urban, multimodal community.”
But some residents are not so sure.
The diversion of traffic from Hardy Street onto side streets and the build up of vehicles near drop-off and pick-up locations at Wilcox Elementary School were among the concerns addressed by residents at the meeting.
Puhi resident Robert Girald said he agrees with the project’s concept but questions whether people are ready to change their attitudes and habits.
One example, he said, is that most parents have a job and sometimes have children who go to different schools, making it difficult for them to walk their kids to school.
The proposed project, he said, is also concentrated only in a specific area around Wilcox Elementary and does not necessarily encourage people living in other parts of Lihue to walk their kids to school.
“I think they need to put more thought into all of this and really address all of these issues,” Girald said. “I’m not trying to poke holes in the idea, but I think they need to put a lot more thought into the considerations that the community has to deal with.”
Nagamine said he supports the project.
“I know it’s going to be tough, because you’re actually trying to change people’s habits, but when you change the facility or the roadway and stuff like that, people will adjust to that,” Nagamine said. “You’re kind of forcing them to do that, but it’s all right. I think we should do that.”
The design phase is still in progress, but construction is slated to begin in the spring of 2014 and could take a year to complete.
A second public information meeting is scheduled for later in the year.
Info: www.hardystreetimprovements.com, 808-628-5817, or hardystreet@ssfm.com
