Section of Rainbow Drive shut down

A portion of Rainbow Drive in Hilo is closed permanently in order to increase safety in the area.

The closure of the one-way section of the road is part of an overall county improvement project on Waianuenue Avenue.

“The objective of this work was to make Waianuenue Avenue safer and friendly for travel by pedestrians, bicycles and wheelchairs,” Department of Public Works information specialist Barett Otani said in an email.

The Waianuenue improvements project is scheduled to be complete by the end of next week, when county crews finish up road striping. The project is being done in-house by the Highways and Traffic Divisions of the Department of Public Works.

Permanent closure of the one-way part of Rainbow Drive, which is about 160 linear feet, has been planned since December last year, Otani said.

There are no current plans to alter the road to make it more pedestrian-specific, but eventually it will be fully closed off from the main portion of Rainbow by a set of guardrails.

Temporary barriers currently are in place.

Crews also recently completed a widening of the T-intersection connecting Rainbow and Waianuenue that allows vehicles as large as a standard tour bus to safely navigate the area, Otani said. The intersection is now 16 feet wider than before.

Pedestrian access on the Waianuenue bridge just before Rainbow Drive also was improved with a 3-foot widening of the current path. Travel lanes over the bridge are now 10.5 feet wide, and a curb system was installed to delineate the access path from the roadway itself.

The road improvements also include adding speed reduction markings to the road and widening the paved shoulder from Carvalho Park to makai of the bridge.

Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.