LIHU‘E — How low will they go?

State officials pledged a reduction in the current 50-mph speed limit along Kuhio Highway in the Wailua area known as “blood alley.”

Just how large a reduction will be implemented is not yet known, but the new speed limit could be in place by next month, said state Department of Transportation Highways Division managers.

“All indications are the speed limit’s going to come down,” said Alvin Takeshita, DOT-H traffic engineer.

“We will be lowering the speed limit,” it’s just a matter of determining how low it will go, said Jiro Sumada, DOT deputy director for highways, at a meeting attended by around 50 people Wednesday night at the Wilcox Elementary School cafeteria.

Speed-limit reduction is just one idea being studied intently. Another involves the installation of permanent speed-limit “smart signs” that will record speeds and times of day, data which can be used not only by state engineers to determine solutions, but by Kaua‘i Police Department officers to figure the best times to catch speeders, the DOT-H officials said.

Those signs are expected to be installed before year’s end, they said.

The speed-limit evaluation should be done in around two weeks, after which time the most comfortable speed limit for the area will be determined, they said.

“There is a balance I need to strike. I need an engineering basis to make that decision,” Takeshita said of the speed-limit-reduction decision. In other words, the state needs to make an “informed decision,” he said.

That will likely involve study of what is known as 85 percentile speed, or the speed at which 85 percent of motorists drive, he said.

Since 2000, there have been 10 fatal crashes on the three-mile stretch of Kuhio Highway roughly from the entrance to the Kaua‘i Hilton to Wailua Beach, eight of which have involved vehicles crossing the center line of the highway.

“We are very concerned. It’s priority No. 1 in this district,” said Raymond J. McCormick, DOT-H Kaua‘i district engineer.

“We need to all be part of the solution,” not just engineers, not just drivers, not just KPD, Sumada said. “It’s a community issue,” and better to have a community solution than to have a DOT-H solution forced upon the community, he added.

“It’s a group effort.”

“Things have to be done now,” said Ray Blouin, a fan of reducing the speed limit. “Things need to change on that highway.”

The cost of a life cannot be computed, said Pam Chock. Reducing the speed limit may be inconvenient for some drivers, but it might also save a life, she said.

“This is overdue,” she added, applauding state efforts. “You’re doing something instead of doing nothing.”

Kaua‘i Police Department Chief Darryl Perry, who was joined at the meeting by other KPD officers, said the department goal for that deadly stretch of highway was zero fatalities, a goal that even with stepped-up enforcement and community outreach has not been met.

“It’s beyond our control,” Perry said. “I know that, together, we can get it done. It won’t be easy, but we can get it done.”

“We appreciate his support,” Sumada said of Perry. “It is a collaborative effort.”

Immediate work also includes construction of three areas for emergency-vehicle pullouts, with construction to begin before the end of the year.

At Blouin’s suggestion, a follow-up meeting will be scheduled for December or January, to let the public know what’s been done, what’s being done, and what’s planned to be done, Sumada said.

A realignment of the intersections of the highway with Wailua Golf Course and Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center is planned as part of the improvements, as well as examination on the effectiveness of the weekday-morning contra-flow operations.

In addition to Perry and the other KPD officers and state DOT-H officials, also in attendance were state Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau; state Rep. Jimmy Tokioka, D-Lihu‘e-Koloa; county Administrative Assistant Gary Heu; County Council Chair Kaipo Asing; Councilmember Tim Bynum; and County Engineer Donald Fujimoto.

• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.