Something very special happened during the past few months, and it culminated in a first-ever project for Oahu.

A wide variety of groups — health organizations, landscape architects, architects, planners, developers, advocates for cyclists, media, nonprofit organizations, civil and traffic engineers, landowners, small businesses and the City and County of Hono-lulu, as well as many individuals — put together Hele On Kakaako with a "Complete Streets" demonstration on Cooke Street on May 12.

Cooke Street was decked out with newly painted facades on formerly dull-looking warehouse walls. Striping was added to the roadway for bike lanes. Traffic circles and bulb-outs were built out of wattles — stuffed tubes commonly used to block storm drains — and placed in the roadway. Parklets were moved into parking stalls and offered rest and conversation spots.

Hundreds of plants and dozens of trees were placed along the street to act as buffer zones and sometimes just for a special touch. Pop-up gardens and street furniture were added to a street corner. Temporary signage was installed to educate the public.

In addition, a computerized traffic simulation indicated about 600 vehicle stops would be required over a one-hour period compared with more than 2,300 under existing conditions. In a complete street setting, average speeds would increase, while pedestrians would benefit from shortened street crossings.

All of this took many hours to plan and many professionals to coordinate various aspects of the project. It required the city to think about its policies and procedures with respect to roadway usage, to the extent that a license agreement was drawn up to work in conjunction with street permits.

One of the high points of Hele On Kakaako came in the Hawaii Community Development Authority conference room where represen- tatives from various levels of government —U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Councilman Breene Harimoto and city Department of Transportation Services Deputy Director Mark Garrity — had gathered for presentations.

Abercrombie stated his administration’s commitment to work with the county to implement Complete Streets.

It is now up to all of us to hold the governor and others accountable to bring Complete Streets to our communities.

Complete Streets, combined with education and enforcement, can make our roadways better places for all users while encouraging people to be more active.