‘Complete Streets’ beacon aims to improve safety on Kailua Road

City officials Tuesday morning unveiled a new crosswalk with a flashing beacon to help pedestrians cross a busy thoroughfare in the heart of Kailua town more safely.

The beacon — made up of a set of yellow pedestrian signs and buttons that activate flashing LED lights — has been installed on Kailua Road, fronting Kailua Town Center near Lau Hala Lane.

Pedestrians or bicyclists can push the button from either side to activate the beacon, which flashes a red light at high frequency to alert motorists that they need to cross the road. This improves visibility of foot traffic and cyclists while encouraging drivers to yield, but the former still need to make sure the latter do so before crossing.

The official name for the device is “rectangular rapid flashing beacon,” and it’s the first that the city has installed on Oahu, with more to come as part of its “Complete Streets” initiative, according to Jon Nouchi, deputy director of the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services.

“Our first and foremost goal for Complete Streets is to improve safety and travel for all modes of transportation,” said Nouchi. “And in just a small amount of time, gathered here, watching this activated signal, we’ve seen the benefit it’s immediately brought to this community.”

The crosswalk was also relocated from the other side of Lau Hala Lane to the plaza fronting California Pizza Kitchen, and now allows pedestrian to flow directly from Kailua Town Center to Kailua Shopping Center across the street, according to officials. A grassy median island has also been added — with a button at the midway point, too — to provide more safety for pedestrians crossing the multilane road.

The installation was made possible through a private­-public partnership with Alexander &Baldwin, owner of much of the retail property in Kailua town, which contributed $100,000 to the project.

Renee Espiau, the city’s Complete Streets administrator, said the crossing beacon has been shown to reduce vehicle-pedestrian collisions by nearly 50%. “We do, unfortunately, have a history of vehicle-pedestrian crashes at this location,” she said, “so we’re very excited to improve safety.”

Overall, construction of the project, including the new median, crosswalk and beacon, cost about $500,000, she said, including connection to electrical wiring.

The city is also considering crossing beacons on North King Street in Kalihi and possibly the Pearl City area. Every project will be site-specific.

Espiau said the new crosswalk and beacon are the first of other improvements to come for Kailua.

The Kailua Complete Streets project held a virtual community meeting in May that outlined more improvements to the Kalapawai Roundabout at Kailua Road and Kalaheo Avenue, and other projects on Kihapai and Oneawa streets.

In a survey conducted then, 30% of respondents said Oneawa Street was the most challenging to cross on foot in the area, while 22% said it was Kailua Road, 18% said Kuulei Road, 17% chose Kalaheo Avenue and the rest chose other roads.

As part of improvements, the city also installed a new bike corral fronting Lanikai Juice at Kailua Shopping Center, and is considering adding a bicycle lane on that side of the road. The corral was installed in a spot that did not eliminate on-street parking, officials said.