Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 76° Today's Paper


Kokua Line

Signs warning of crosswalks prove useful in pilot project

Question: I saw one of those yellow stand-up road signs in Manoa that remind drivers they should slow down because there is a crosswalk. Would the city consider putting one on the crosswalk at 22nd and Har­ding avenues in Kaimuki? Cars come straight down pretty fast from 21st Avenue, as well as from 22nd Avenue, and sometimes don’t realize there is a crosswalk. Cars park so close to that crosswalk it is hard to see anyone, much less a child, trying to cross.

Answer: The city Department of Transportation Services is moving to install more of those in-street pedestrian signs after a pilot proj­ect proved a success.

The pilot project, launched in 2008, involved signs posted at East Manoa Road and Hua­pala Street in Manoa and at Hama­kua Drive and Aoloa Street in Kailua.

“Our experience, especially with the sign on East Manoa Road near Manoa Marketplace, has been positive,” said Wayne Yoshi­oka, director of transportation services. Positive comments also were received about the Kailua sign, he said.

The department is revising its rules to incorporate the in-street signs and expects to have the signs become part of their “toolbox” sometime this year.

You should submit a request in writing, with contact information, to Wayne Yoshi­oka, Department of Transportation Services, 650 S. King St., 3rd Floor, Hono­lulu, HI 96813.

“That way, we can coordinate with (the requestor) in terms of the prog­ress of our evaluation of that location,” he said.

The in-street pedestrian signs require motorists to stop only if someone is in the crosswalk.

Question: I was looking in the official Hawaiian Telcom phone directory, the 2011 Oahu white pages, to find the tsunami evacuation areas, and there are none. I can’t find anything. Where are they?

Answer: This year the 16-page “Disaster Preparedness Guide” was placed in the Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages.

It had been included for years in the White Pages for Oahu directories and in the combined White Pages/Yellow Pages books for Hawaii, Maui and Kauai, said Pat Nichols, senior director of corporate communications for the Berry Co., which publishes the directories.

But because of declining usage and ownership of the White Pages in Hawaii, as well as across the nation, it was decided that moving the guide to the Yellow Pages “would provide the greatest service for consumers and businesses,” she said. “Our objective was to reach as many people as possible with critical and comprehensive information on evacuation zones as well as other tsunami preparedness and public safety information.”

Nichols said that in 2012 both the White Pages and Yellow Pages directory covers for Oahu will “prominently display” reminders that the Disaster Preparedness Guide is in the Yellow Pages directory.

“We are proud to be able to provide this important public service, and grateful that it has been so useful and well received in our local communities,” she said.

AUWE

To whoever broke into my nephew’s rental car at the Hono­lulu Zoo on Monday, April 4. All you took were baby clothes for my soon-to-be-born grandnephew and stuff you probably can’t even sell for drugs. You stole from a young couple who saved for a year to come to Oahu from Kauai to take their 4-year-old to the zoo and to buy items for the baby. Mahalo to the Hono­lulu Police Department and Officer Kary Rosenow (the only name I have) for being so nice to my family. — Tina Luke

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Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.

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