Project Status: Implementation Complete
In 2019, Honolulu joined the national trend for Tactical Urbanism. Given the staggering increase in pedestrian fatalities in Hawaii, Street Plans was hired by the Hawaii State Department of Health to work alongside the City and County of Honolulu to make the streets of the Kalihi neighborhood safer and more walkable. This project will also allow the city to test the Quick Build method and develop a program to encourage residents to identify a dangerous street or intersection and propose a way to improve it.
The project began with a series of workshops in the fall of 2018 and in early 2019, where Street Plans worked with City staff and Honolulu community members to develop a pilot tactical urbanism project in one of the most diverse communities of the city.Street Plans engaged engineering students from Farrington High School to choose a project location and develop a design for six painted curb extensions along the corridor. The students mapped out the routes that they typically take to school and selected three intersections along N. King Street, a busy commercial corridor in the neighborhood.
Street Plans developed a project implementation plan for the various aspects of the installation, and assisted the client with the permitting process as well as the development of a traffic management plan. The designed bulb outs narrowed the road and resulted in a decrease of vehicle turning speeds at the intersections. The new design will stay in place for a year while city officials test the proposed road changes. These efforts also helped further the city’sComplete Streets policy goals to make the city safer for pedestrians, bike riders, and passengers using public transportation.
The Kalihi pilot project will hopefully lead the way to develop Honolulu’s first Quick-Build Program that will allow the City to test and implement other community-led projects.
