South Maui State Representative Wildberger in Attendance
7/25/19 #kihei
Monday, July 22nd, a contingency of veteran Kihei Community Association Directors went to the Maui Research and Technology Park to meet with Goodfellow Brothers/ Pacific Rim Land at their offices. South Maui State Representative Tina Wildberger was also present.
South Maui State Representative Tina Wildberger
The KCA directors’ long-term experience with South Maui traffic issues and safety concerns prompted the meeting.
The main issue discussed was the Kulanihakoi exit off the Pi’ilani highway, which is currently closed due to construction. It was proposed that after construction is over the vehicle intersection should be revised into a roundabout rather than a signalized crossroad.
Further discussion included creating a series of roundabouts along the Pi’ilani Highway at most or all of the major intersections. This progressive stance on the re-design of the highway is in response to a need for safety for drivers and for pedestrians. Safe pedestrian areas are also extremely important due to the long-awaited Kihei high school which reportedly has a pedestrian underpass for the Pi’ilani freeway for pedestrians and bike users. These safety measures in traffic planning follow the recommendations made by a detailed 2014 Kihei High School study produced by the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute.
A suggestion was made that our State Legislature establish a gathering of the community, business, and government representatives next month to continue the discussion. Other stakeholders which would be invited include the State Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Education (DOE) and the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Interestingly, the DOT and the DOE were invited to the 2013 meeting in preparation for the 2014 study made by the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute but did not attend. The MPO was not yet created in 2013.
Tina Wildberg should be commended for already moving forward on this action.
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I do not understand this obsession with roundabouts! Not on a highway! Piilani needs stoplights to slow the speed of traffic! Roundabouts work on residential type streets.
WOW Where do we begin? Fact is roundabouts slow traffic- signal light do not! Vehicles physically have to proceed slower to navigate roundabouts. With traffic signals. assuming drivers do not run through the red signal, which we see all the time on Maui, and do stop, nothing prevents them from speeding once the light changes.
In much of the world (Europe, Asia, mainland US) roundabouts work successfully on all types of roadways including highways. Roundabout are much safer than traffic signals ( 32 to 8 possible conflict points) than cross street intersections for all modes of transportation, including pedestrians. Roundabouts have fewer injuries and fewer serous ones as well.Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) advises roundabouts typically achieve: A 37 percent reduction in overall collisions—? A 75 percent reduction in injury collisions A 90 percent reduction in fatality collisions and A 40 percent reduction in pedestrian collisions
They are more efficient as stop and go uses more fuel than consistent moderate driving and thus also better for the environment Generally roundabout are less expensive than signalized intersections In the event extra land must be acquired for the roundabout, in long term still less costly. Light must be maintained, parts replaced by technicians, and subject to damage by vehicles, and then replaced.