The Problem
Kamali’i is a dead-end street in the rear of Kilauea School in Kauai, Hawaii. Although “No School Drop Off” signs are posted clearly on the gate and reiterated through newsletters, personal requests, and various other methods, parents still drop off their children at the back of the school. The issue is that there is no place to safely turn around so cars must backup down the street. It causes chaos, congestion, and unsafe situations for children trying to walk or bike safely to school as well as residents of the street.
The Solution
A Get Fit Kauai Safe Routes to School Community Design Workshop was hosted by Kilauea School with support from the County of Kauai with several meetings from January-February 2018. A postcard was mailed to over 600 Kilauea property owners with a schedule of all the meetings.
In addition to the mailing by the county and notifications to school families through Kilauea School, signs were placed on streets around Kilauea School announcing the workshops. During the workshops, a focus of the school and community was to improve safety on Kamali’i Street since this is the main route for children walking and biking from the neighborhood to the school. There have also been incidents of cars and even children being hit at the back of the school. A plan to improve safety while keeping Kamali’i two-way was discussed but there was no consensus around this idea.
Therefore, March 2018, a “carport meeting” was hosted to bring the Kamali’i Street residents together and discuss alternatives. Invitations were hand-delivered to all Kamali’i Street residences and again signs were placed on Kamali’i Street informing residents of the meeting. At this meeting, various alternatives were presented, and the residents overwhelmingly chose the one-way option, with one attendee opposed. Even the direction of the one-way was determined by the residents. There were approximately 20 people in attendance at this meeting.
After these meetings, traffic resolutions were prepared for the proposed changes, and these were approved by the County Council at their February 20, 2019 meeting.
The Before and After photos below show the considerable improvements for this Kauai community – benefiting not only the children walking and bicycling to school but the neighborhood as well.
