Green bike lane marking are some of this weeks additions at this intersection
11/17/23 UPDATE AGAIN ! In this past week, we see additional signage & pavement markings at this residential intersection. While we do not have evidence of what it looked like before the first actions last month, we can advise that before & after bicyclist Robert Clay was killed by a hit-and-run driver on the night of Sept. 5, 2007, not much changed. But well over a decade later, we see this massive action.
Large bright shiny signs alert drivers to these new crosswalks extending across Kenolio on both North and South sides of intersection
Now we see from last week what these green letters on the road surface were indicating; placement of these signs
While we have been calling for implementation of the frequent phrase “walkable bike able community” in the current 1998 community plan for decades to little to no avail, especially in No Kihei, we certainly are taken aback with this explosion of actions at this one intersection. Ironically, as one proceeds north on Kenolio immediately past this intersection, there is no bike lane at all for the next half mile! But right here,,,WOW!
UPDATE 11.11.23 Additional work at this favored intersection this week
Check out these fancy bollards added all around the intersection this week,
Wonder who is going to keep all of these clean and bright
The bollards extend much beyond the intersection on Kenolio
Do you know what this means?
Just a few on each side of Alulike which as the stop sign
11/4/23 # kihei
Beginning last month we have observed County Dept. of Public Works crews restriping this intersection. We note bright clear crosswalks at all four corners which we almost never see in the residential neighborhoods in N. Kihei. But when you look closely you note none of the crosswalks reach the edge of the roadway to match the sidewalks.
The crosswalks do not reach the sidewalks at any of the 4 corners.
So what are the large blank portions of blacktop at each corner for?
Close examination shows small “L’s” in each corner of the blank spots to possibly outline something more to be added at each corner?
Then there is the added striping on Kenolio Rd. leading into the intersection. Is this for a bike lane? A right turn lane?
We now see three lanes on Kenolio Rd. going north into the intersection but the middle one is narrow, like a bike path. The one on left (next to the center of road yellow line) is for vehicles.
We might think the far right one is a right turn lane, yet we see something is going to be located there by the crosswalks?
This portion of Kenolio has no housing facing the road so no driveways and no practical pedestrian access from homes, but does have contiguous sidewalk on mauka side.
It is comparably safe for cycling, except as is often the case, numerous drivers greatly exceed the posted 20 mph limit. Sadly, many years ago, this intersection was the location of a bicycle hit and run fatality, the traffic death of environmentally conscious bicyclist Robert Clay, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver on the night of Sept. 5, 2007.
Our recollection is police investigators determined later that a silver 2003 Honda Accord was recovered the day after the crash and had damage consistent with being involved in the crash, and was deemed to have been involved in Clay’s death. But we never heard anyone was charged for his death, and the roadside memorial for Robert is long gone after all the years.
The update to our 1998 community plan, which repeatedly called for a walkable-bikeable community to no avail, has just completed phase 1 by the Community Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) and will now move to the Planning Commission (with no S. Maui residents on that panel) and then on to the County Council. Will we get improved multimodal transportation once the plan is passed by the county legislature? Of course that is years away, while something is happening at this intersection now.
Multimodal transportation, walkable-bikeable community, complete streets are all great IF they are implemented:
- We have street guidelines offered in the last century https://gokihei.org/kca-road-guidelines
- County Administration presents “complete streets.” This presentation was given to the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers at one of their monthly meetings in August of 2019. https://www.mauicounty.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/26388
- Our current (1998) community plan talks walkable-bikeable community https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1712/Kihei-Makena-Community-Plan-1998?bidId=
Do you see any of this or anything similar happening in South Maui? Could this intersection be a start of something real? Let us watch.
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I drove through this area last week and was surprised at the difference the updating has made. But, because I was driving I was not paying attention to the details such as the crosswalks not aligning to the sidewalks. I noticed this after work was done on Kihei during the summer. What could possibly be the reasoning of this non-alignment? As glad as I am to see some improvement happening I would really like to see supervision to make sure the plan is being designed correctly and/or implemented correctly. Thank you Mike for always paying attention to the details and letting us know what is being done – right and/or wrong. You are a gift to this community. I do hope that they will continue to move forward with other areas of our Kihei community. It is so long past due.
Mahalo for the kind words. Karen This post has several updates as we kept returning to check the status. There may be more upcoming The most recent updates were marking on the road surface, so we might guess that those blank spaces might yet be filled in with more of the same. But yes, it stands out as being so unusual when so much of the surrounding transportation infrastructure lack very basic needs. We still see long stretches of So Kihei Road (SKR) not only have no sidewalks but not even road shoulders, so pedestrians are forced to walk in traffic lanes! The same occurs on this road, Kenolio, a few blocks North. Long past due indeed, Karen.