The state has begun a $4.1 million project to ease congestion on Kahekili Highway in Kahalu'u, but some residents are concerned that schoolchildren and other pedestrians will be at risk crossing where the highway will be widened.

A state Department of Transportation spokeswoman responded that the plan includes appropriate safety buffers between cars and pedestrians.

The project is adding turn lanes and other features to a quarter-mile stretch of Kahekili Highway fronting the Ko'olau Center shopping complex. There are three main features:

• For Kahuku-bound traffic, a 360-foot deceleration lane will be added for cars turning right onto East Hui Iwa Street. It will be a right turn-only lane and help through traffic flow past more smoothly.

• For Kane'ohe-bound traffic, the existing left-turn lane from Kahekili onto East Hui Iwa will be lengthened to 470 feet.

• Also for Kane'ohe-bound traffic, a 380-foot acceleration lane will be added for cars turning right from the 'Ahuimanu subdivision and merging onto Kahekili.

It is the last item that concerns some area residents. They fear that the acceleration lane will make the highway that much wider, exposing pedestrians to more risk.

"There's no good feeling about that aspect of the project at all," said David Henkin, chairman of the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board.

The state has made changes to address the issue, DOT spokeswoman Tammy Mori said.

The stop line for vehicles as well as the crosswalks will be placed farther from the intersections, Mori said.

"Moving (the stop line) back from the crosswalk gives more separation between pedestrians in the crosswalk and the cars," Mori said in an e-mail. "Moving the crosswalk back increases the space between pedestrians in the crosswalk and the traffic in the intersection, increasing safety buffer."

The community was given the option of eliminating the crosswalk on the Kane'ohe side of the intersection at Kahekili and West Hui Iwa, but parents didn't like that option because some children would have to make three crossings instead of one, increasing the risk of being hit, said Gregory Geboski, a neighborhood board member. Geboski also doubted that kids would obey the no-crossing restrictions.

Geboski said he is frustrated that the state apparently didn't take into account that making the road wider would make it more dangerous to students crossing.

"I don't like being in the situation where you're presented with a case where pedestrian crossing is less safe," he said.

The state has been working on the project for several years, Transportation Director Brennon Morioka said.

"We've also presented and discussed plans at public and neighborhood board meetings to ensure that the improvements reflected what the community wanted," Morioka said.

Residents also complained that they would lose parking on a wide grassy area along Kahekili and that morning traffic from Kahuku would slow at West Hui Iwa because traffic from 'Ahuimanu would no longer have a stop light.

The state had offered mitigation measures at a neighborhood board meeting but the board could not muster the necessary votes to endorse any of the mitigation proposals, Henkin said.

"Hopefully in the future the DOT will be better about coming out to the community before putting things out to bid and tying up taxpayers' money on projects that people just don't want," Henkin said.

The project is scheduled to be completed Dec. 3. The federal government is paying for 80 percent of the cost and the state is paying for 20 percent.