For the past three days, the city cut a long stretch of Waialae Avenue from a five-lane road down to four lanes.

I drove up and down the road Thursday. It wasn’t exactly Kaimuki’s version of carmageddon. Traffic was pretty smooth and there was little congestion.

The whole point is to facilitate a study on whether the Kaimuki thoroughfare can support a bike lane.

"We’re trying to quantify the amount of delay in traffic if anything changes," says city Department of Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka.

The city already has plans to resurface pockmarked Waialae Avenue, which won’t happen until January. That’s because there is a hold on all road projects while the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting is happening.

"And then you run into our holiday season," Yoshioka says. "We try not to close major roadways during that time."

Waialae Avenue has three Ewa-bound lanes and two Koko Head-bound lanes. The city is trying to see whether:

» It could remove one of the Ewa-bound lanes and install bike lanes on both sides of the road. This would also remove parking stalls between 8th and 11th avenues.

» It could instead paint "sharrows" on the Ewa-bound lane and install a bike lane only on the Koko Head-bound lane. Sharrows are markings for shared lanes that both bicycles and cars may use.

If the city decides both scenarios are unfeasible, the city would instead paint sharrows on both sides of Waialae Avenue, a solution bicycling advocates have deemed unfavorable.

It’ll take about two months to evaluate the data. Then the city will go to the Kaimuki community, including businesses near the parking stalls, to get their input.

"That’s the future and most important component of this study," Yoshioka says.

I’m not sure how accurate the data will be, considering the public was given a heads-up to probably avoid Waialae Avenue. Then again, Kaimuki has a lot of other alternate routes to take. I typically take Harding Avenue if I think Waialae is congested.

Regardless, I hope bike safety remains at the forefront of planning. My sister visited Honolulu during the summer. She asked me whether it was a good idea to bike to her summer job.

"It’s a good way to stay healthy," she said. She ended up taking TheBus because of my cynical response.

I told her, "But it’s healthier to not get hit by a car."

Reach Gene Park at gpark@staradvertiser.com, or Twitter as @GenePark.