A state representative and at least one community leader are accusing Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration of stalling on a long-discussed road improvement project in the upper part of Kalihi Street.

State Rep. John Mizuno (D, Kamehameha Heights- Kalihi Valley) said Tuesday he’s baffled by a letter he received recently from city Transportation Services Director Wes Frysztacki explaining that rather than undertake a widening project now, the city was instead replacing reflective raised pavement markers along the centerline as well as the edge of pavement in the vicinity of a sharp S curve in Kalihi Street fronting the Keiki o ka ‘Aina Family Learning Center.

Mizuno said the curve has historically been a trouble spot that community members want improved. Preferably, he said, the road should be widened.

He worked successfully for the state to appropriate $1 million toward the project, which comes with a stipulation that the city put in a $1 million match.

Frysztacki, in his June 28 letter to Mizuno, described the improvements as a short-term measure.

“We will reevaluate the ‘S Curve’ approximately six months after these measures are implemented,” Frysztacki wrote. “If the public’s concerns still exist, we will consider widening the roadway by two feet and installing electronic driver feedback signs.”

Neither Mizuno nor Chris Wong, until this month chairman of the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, thinks that will resolve the safety concerns.

A disheartened Wong said Tuesday the project has been a rallying cry for neighborhood residents for three decades.

“Drive that road at night when it’s raining when TheBus is coming up,” Wong said. “Because TheBus needs to (cross the centerline and) traverse into oncoming traffic.”

On Tuesday afternoon scores of vehicles continually crossed the centerline going both mauka and makai through the curve. The biggest violators were wide commercial trucks and city buses.

“It’s the only way they can physically get by,” Wong said. “And there’s no shoulder for pedestrians, so that’s extremely dangerous.”

Mizuno said he agrees with those who are against straightening the road, which would likely encourage motorists to speed up and down the valley. What needs to be done is widen both sides, he said.

One side, however, is near the edge of a stream bank, leaving little room for expansion. So there would be a need to encroach deeper into the property on the other side, a terraced garden area that is part of Keiki o ka ‘Aina. “Probably no more than 3 or 4 feet,” Mizuno said.

“You could take 20 feet (from Keiki o ka ‘Aina) and it wouldn’t affect any operations or activity on their property,” Wong said.

Mizuno said city traffic engineers estimated it would cost less than $2 million, including taking a portion of the Keiki o ka ‘Aina property, to widen the road.

If the state’s $1 million is not used by June 30, 2018, the money will lapse, he said. The city appropriated $752,000 for the project in 2015, so $248,000 more is needed to receive the match, he said.

DTS Deputy Director Jon Nouchi, however, said Tuesday the state appropriation is far short of what’s needed. A study done two decades ago estimated that a complete project could cost up to $10 million in 1998 dollars, he said.

The city will evaluate the effectiveness of the new pavement markers, as well as a widening of the “edge of pavement,” at the end of the year to determine whether widening is prudent. “Widening a road can lead to an increase in speeding, and the public’s safety is our greatest concern,” Nouchi said.

Momi Akana, Keiki o ka ‘Aina executive director, said Tuesday she does not oppose a widening project if one is found to be necessary.

Akana said that she, like her neighbors, is frustrated the situation hasn’t been addressed for decades. But Akana said she also agrees with the city that it makes more sense to try smaller improvements first to see whether they can correct the situation.

Besides the reflector stripes, Akana said state engineers who’ve examined the area suggested rumble strips, better signage and speed bumps in the area just above the curve. “Why go for the $1 million idea when they haven’t even tried the $5 idea?”

Akana disagreed that there is no shoulder for people to walk on, citing a clear path on her property running alongside the road that her staff encourages pedestrians to use. “Everyone walks over here,” she said.

A widening of the road would take away from that, and she expects any shoulder that replaces it would be smaller and more dangerous for those on foot.

She pointed to Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board minutes in August showing a DTS traffic engineer explaining that a preferred project — straightening the road and adding sidewalks — would cost $6 million.

Kalihi resident Pascual Dabas, who’s lived in the neighborhood for more than a half-century, said improvements to the curve are badly needed. “Cut the corner so a bus or van can move through,” he said.