New streetlights selected to match ones already up

Question: Someone needs to be held responsible for the fiasco of the new streetlights lining Ala Moana Boulevard. The design is inappropriate and stylistic of an older era in a Disneyland way. That concept is totally alien for a burgeoning, cutting-edge Hono­lulu. I’ve been an architect for more than 25 years in Hawaii and know what is available. What was selected is horrendous. The second problem is more disturbing. The lights have been installed in seemingly haphazard locations along the makai sidewalk, townside of Ala Moana Center, that make navigating difficult in some areas and completely inaccessible to handicapped individuals. That is illegal, and a lawsuit is going to happen. The whole project, from design to installation, is a fiasco. Who approved this?

Answer: The state Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard Resurfacing and Highway Lighting Replacement Project, says the vintage streetlights simply are an extension of lights put up by the city in the early 2000s.

“Our intent was to continue with the same look that is in Waikiki,” said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter.

Asked about community input, she said the decision to continue the decorative lighting design was made prior to November 2010 “without public input.”

According to a 2003 report prepared by Wilson Oka­moto Corp., the idea behind then-Mayor Jeremy Harris’ “Waikiki Livable Community Project” was to give Waikiki a “Hawaiian sense of place” and to make it a “more livable community.”

With input from the public, the city came up with a “vision” for the major thoroughfares through Waikiki — Kalakaua Avenue, Kuhio Avenue, Ala Wai Boulevard and Ala Moana Boulevard — that included “new historic light fixtures,” the report said.

The vision for Ala Moana as it approached Kalakaua was to transform it into “Waikiki’s primary gateway and make it more welcoming with a ‘Hawaiian look’ and pedestrian-friendly settings, including ‘historic-style street lighting fixtures,’” the report said.

The DOT’s project, meanwhile, entails installing 260 of those decorative light poles along Nimitz and Ala Moana, from Kalakaua to Fort Street Mall.

The total cost of the project, including light poles, resurfacing, placing utilities underground, reconstructing some bus pads and improving curbs, gutters and drains, is now tabbed at $40 million, with the federal government picking up 73 percent of the cost, the state 20 percent and utility companies 7 percent.

Most of the project should be completed by this summer, but utility work is expected to continue through the year.

POLES ARE ADA-COMPLIANT

Regarding accessibility for wheelchair users, Sluyter says all the newly installed light poles meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). That’s because the DOT was given approval to provide a minimum 32-inch sidewalk clearance, instead of the normal 36 inches, in some areas, she said. Even with that, the sidewalk had to be widened to meet the 32-inch requirement in some cases.

The problem encountered in installing the light poles was that a new federal safety requirement prohibits placing them within 24 inches of the curb, Sluyter said. “Also, the area has many underground utilities that the contractor has to avoid when placing the poles,” she said.

The last new light pole footing is being installed at Nimitz Highway and Bishop Street fronting Aloha Tower.

However, new streetlight poles can’t be installed on the mauka side of Ala Moana Boulevard, between Ward Avenue and Cooke Street, until underground cables are laid and overhead power lines are removed sometime this year.

The existing wooden poles with heavy black wiring strung between them will be taken down after the new light poles are all functioning and the utilities are buried underground, Sluyter said.

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, “the view planes will be much improved with the wooden poles and heavy wiring taken down,” she said.

MAHALO

To HPD Officer Espiritu. In December we were having trouble with the alarm system in our car. As we drove on Salt Lake Boulevard to the alarm company, the alarm went off. Officer Espiritu asked what was wrong and helped turn it off. He is the most polite and helpful police officer. — Paul and Faith Kea­loha

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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.