Plans to make Keeaumoku Street safer for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians are in the works, with a meeting to be held virtually at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Under the Honolulu “Complete Streets” program, the city Department of Transportation Services proposes a project along Keeaumoku Street — from Kapiolani Boulevard to Wilder Avenue — to include protected bicycle lanes, traffic-calming measures and pedestrian-crossing improvements.
“Keeaumoku Street runs through the heart of Makiki and the highly urbanized, and growing, Ala Moana district,” DTS Deputy Director Jon Nouchi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email.
He added that the street is also one of the island’s most dangerous.
“Its entire length is identified as a Tier 1 high pedestrian-injury corridor in the new Oahu Pedestrian Plan, and seven intersections between Kapiolani Boulevard and Wilder Avenue are high pedestrian-injury intersections,” Nouchi said, noting Keeaumoku Street has the second-highest number of bicycle crashes of any street crashes on Oahu. “And it even has a high rate of vehicle-only crashes that results in a serious injury or fatality.”
The city says these proposed mauka-to-makai safety improvements along Keeaumoku Street are based on community input. Much of that input came during a November 2021 community meeting that included a walking audit, collaborative design sessions as well as technical traffic and feasibility studies.
The prior meeting also included two design options in which public feedback is still being sought. General improvements under consideration include installation of street trees, protected turning phases at signalized intersections and improved transit stops.
According to the city, the purpose of this project is to transform Keeaumoku Street into a “Complete Street,” featuring a street design that balances the needs of people of all ages and abilities whether they are walking, using a wheelchair, riding a bike, taking public transit or traveling by car.
Nouchi said the proposed improvements would be implemented as part of a programmed roadway rehabilitation and paving project. Despite the need, he noted that improvements to one of the city’s major thoroughfares will take time to begin.
“Construction of this project is still at least several years out and will take no more than one year from start to finish,” Nouchi added.
Once started, he said, the project would be implemented with “little additional cost given the coordination with the rehabilitation/repaving project, with the exception of a proposed traffic signal upgrade at the Kapiolani Boulevard intersection, which could cost upwards of $1 million.” Nouchi added that “the city has funds contributed by recent private developments in the area to offset these costs.”
The improvements to Keeaumoku Street completed with private development dollars already has begun. That includes the October 2021 installation of a Barnes Dance — also called a pedestrian scramble — at the intersection of Keeaumoku and Makaloa streets.
The Barnes Dance allows pedestrians to cross the intersection in any direction, including diagonally. The inclusion of the Barnes Dance at this high-traffic intersection is supposed to improve pedestrian safety at an intersection identified by the city as a high pedestrian-injury location. Developers of the Azure Ala Moana luxury condominium complex at 629 Keeaumoku St. funded, designed and installed the Barnes Dance at that location.
To register for the city’s Thursday meeting via Zoom, visit rebrand.ly/Keeaumoku2023.
For further information about the Keeaumoku Complete Streets project, visit honolulu.gov/completestreets/keeaumoku.
GET INVOLVED
>> What: Virtual meeting via Zoom about safety measures for Keeaumoku Street
>> When: 6 p.m., Thursday
>> To register: Visit rebrand.ly/ Keeaumoku2023.
>> For more information: Visit honolulu.gov/completestreets/keeaumoku.
