Traffic Update - Maile's Q&A with DOT

The following questions came up at this month's Waianae Neighborhood Board meeting. Rep. Shimabukuro got the following responses from the Department of Transportation:

Rep. Shimabukuro: Re: The traffic light at the intersection of Farrington Hwy. and Waianae High School. Can the crosswalk and left turn signal be simultaneous rather than consecutive? It's an unnecessary delay since the crosswalk falls beyond the turn into the school.

DOT: According to our data, the protected left turn and pedestrian phase are already simultaneous. Our traffic engineers will execute a field check to verify this.

Rep. Shimabukuro: Re: The traffic light at the intersection of Farrington Hwy and Leihoku Street. Can a left turn signal be included in the town-bound direction?

DOT: We are not sure what the issue is here but there is already a signal and left turn lane at this intersection. However, we will request traffic counts be taken to see if a separate left turn phase is needed for the left turn lane that already exists. I am wondering if that is what they meant?

Rep. Shimabukuro: Re: Hale Wai Vista affordable housing project behind Waianae Mall, which is being developed by the Hawaii Housing Development Corporation, a non profit. Apparently the project is being built over a planned connection of Moekolu Street to Farrington Hwy., and over a toxic waste site caused by dumping by Okada Trucking. Is this legal? (Note: Not sure if this is a city or state issue).

DOT: Our Highway Planning Branch has reviewed the 201G Application for Hale Wai Vista from HHFDC. Hale Wai is a 5.02 acre, 215 affordable dwelling unit development by HHFDC. The development will have access to Farrington Highway and DOT's comments to the City DPP recommended that a TIAR is likely necessary and intersection improvements may be required, specifically for longer storage lanes. We are not aware about the project being built on a planned connection from Moekolu Street to Farrington Highway. Moekolu Street is a City street on the mauka side of this development and is a City issue. Regarding the toxic waste issue, this would be mitigative measures that the developer of HHFDC would have to pursue, not DOT, and if present would probably have been identified in their environmental review document if one was required.

Rep. Shimabukuro: Median barriers were discussed, and several residents stated that the entire Wai`anae Coast needs protection from head-on collisions.

DOT: We have conducted a general 3-year accident check for the section of Farrington Highway with abutting land development and without median barrier, a 6.2 mile section. From 2004 to 2006, there were a total of 166 major accidents in this section, of which 5 were fatals. 8.4% of these major accidents were head-on accidents. It must be noted that 30.7% were rear end accidents, an indicator of excessive speeds or inattention. 10.2% were broadsides, which indicates turning movement accidents. Originally, the community expressed concerns regarding the original guardrail project involving issues of access and availability of U-turn intersections. The community also expressed concerns that they would only be able to execute a right turn from their access points and there are few intersections wide enough to execute a U-turn. In light of this data, head-on collisions are a very small factor in major accidents and fatalities along the Leeward Coast and rather that speeding, drunk driving, and wreckless driving are the primary reasons for these accidents.