Calm and common sense seem to have prevailed in Moiliili over a disputed road, thanks to the practical ruling of Circuit Judge Bert Ayabe.

Two landowner neighbors had been feuding over usage of Kahuna Lane — a humble byway partly owned by The Malulani Group and long used by its Kokua Market lessee, but which has also now become the only roadway to the new 590-bed Hale Mahana collegiate tower that opened in August.

Improving Kahuna Lane was to involve widening to accommodate two-lane traffic, and additions of sidewalks and storm drains on both sides of the lane. But things deteriorated, with both sides accusing the other of actions that turned the road into a public safety hazard. Chief among these: two utility poles left standing in Kahuna Lane that had once been on the edge of its narrower self.

Ayabe’s Tuesday ruling ordered the poles removed in the interest of safety — thank you, judge — and that two-lane traffic be clearly marked. Gone, hopefully, will be foreboding “Private Road” signage and orange stanchions cluttering the edge of Kahuna Lane, as well as bright diagonal lines painted on the road, marked “Private Access.”

Let’s hope this week’s resolution sticks, for the sake of road safety and community harmony. Now, if only a similarly speedy, common-sense solution could come for other access-road disputes. One in particular: the lawsuit filed last week against Kamehameha Schools’ Haleiwa Store Lots by Wilma Ward’s family, whose 71-year Kewalo Lane access has been disrupted, sometimes blocked, by redevelopment. Let’s hope, for the Wards’ sake and safety.