The cost of a traffic signal is one of the main reasons no such light will be installed at the Kealakehe Parkway intersection with Ane Keohokalole Highway. The cost of a traffic signal is one of the main reasons no
The cost of a traffic signal is one of the main reasons no such light will be installed at the Kealakehe Parkway intersection with Ane Keohokalole Highway.
Drivers who routinely traverse Kealakehe Parkway near the West Hawaii Civic Center, and those who plan to use Ane Keohokalole Highway, should watch instead for a multilane, four-way stop where the two intersect.
Public Works Director Warren Lee said the county considered three traffic control measures for the intersection, at which Kealakehe Parkway is a three-lane road, and the newly constructed highway has two lanes. One was a traffic light, which Lee said would be too expensive. Signalized intersections cost at least $500,000, and often more, depending on the intersection and who does the work, Lee said.
Second is a roundabout, which Lee said wouldn’t fit in the available space. That left a four-way stop for the intersection with five lanes.
Lee acknowledged motorists have had several collisions at the intersection, where drivers accustomed to coming down Kealakehe Parkway aren’t used to having cross-traffic at the civic center. The stop sign will make the intersection safer, he said.
The state Department of Transportation will need to approve the measure, Lee said. Kealakehe Parkway is a state road.
DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said the state gave Hawaii County the lead in determining the type of intersection control.
Mayor Billy Kenoi said he let Lee and Public Works work on traffic safety measures at the intersection.
“They were tasked with looking at all three measures,” Kenoi said, adding Public Works engineers were to consider “cost, time and safety” in making a decision.
Kona Patrol Capt. Richard Sherlock said the department recorded 23 traffic accidents on Kealakehe Parkway in the last year. Two of those were at the intersection in front of the civic center.
The rules of a four-way stop with more than four lanes are the same as an intersection with four lanes, Sluyter said. She said the state’s driver’s licensing provides instructions on how to drive through a four-way-stop intersection. The manual does not provide specific instructions on intersections with additional lanes.
