A crosswalk on a major thoroughfare in Hawaii Kai suddenly disappeared.
The city says it accidentally removed it, but it’s raising a lot of questions as well as concerns about safety.
Residents say they thought the state was upgrading the crosswalk on Hawaii Kai Drive to make it safer and were surprised when it was removed just a few days later.
Jasper Wong, who has lived in the area for over a decade, now worries for his daughters safety when he walks her across the street to preschool.
“I’ve seen senior citizens just wait there to cross the street, and people just sit there, waiting, because they still use the crosswalk to this day,” Wong said. “I have to carry my daughter across the street everyday,” he added.
Residents add that the nearest crosswalks are too far away, which they say is adding another danger.
“We felt like it made it unsafe, I think the idea was to remove the crosswalk to make it safer, but now people just jaywalk it everyday,” Wong continued.
Andrew Pereira with the city told KHON2 via e-mail that “the crosswalk was inadvertently removed and will be repainted.”
“For a lot of people in this neighborhood it doesn’t make sense that it was a mistake,” Wong added. “For them to come out here and spend all that money to take it away, then to spend all this money to put it back, I mean all the money used for that could have been used to make it safer. I don’t understand how it’s a mistake.”
The city has not said when the crosswalk will be replaced.
