The state has announced it will spend $2 million to install 600 new countdown crosswalk timers at intersections around O'ahu by 2011 in an effort to reduce a troubling rash of pedestrian traffic fatalities.

The work will begin with 90 timers along Ala Moana Boulevard from Fort Street to Pi'ikoi Street as soon as repaving is completed there next spring.

So far this year, 19 out of the state's 62 traffic fatalities have been pedestrians. There were 20 pedestrian deaths last year.

The project is part of $18.5 million in state and federal money that the department has budgeted for pedestrian safety over the next two years.

The timers will guide pedestrians across some of the most dangerous intersections in Honolulu. Between 2003 and 2005, there were 13 pedestrian accidents along Ala Moana Boulevard.

Instead of the traditional flashing hand signal, pedestrians approaching an intersection will see numbers counting down to zero. According to the DOT and the city Department of Transportation Services, pedestrians are not to enter the crosswalk once the numbers appear.

"It's not meant for people to dash across the street," said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Although the department has not yet determined where the rest of the timers will go, some will be installed along Fort Weaver Road in 'Ewa once a widening project that started a few months ago is finished.

So far this year, an additional 68 countdown timers, not included in the 600 total, were installed along Farrington Highway from Waipahu Town Center at Leoku Street to Waipahu High School at Kahaulii Street. Those timers give pedestrians at least 15 seconds to cross Waipahu's side streets and at least 30 seconds to cross Farrington Highway.

The DOT has not yet determined how long pedestrians will have to cross Ala Moana Boulevard's side streets, although they will have more time to cross the much wider Ala Moana.

Pedestrian safety advocates yesterday applauded the project.

"It definitely helps," said Barbara Kim Stanton, director of the AARP in Hawaii. "It gives you a good sense of how quickly you have to move."

But she added that the state may need to adjust its priorities in the ways it addresses pedestrian safety on Hawai'i's roads.

"We appreciate the efforts that are being done," she said. "But very often, the schedule is based on the pavement schedule. We want the focus to be put on fixing intersections by how dangerous they are."

The timers are only part of a continuing plan to address pedestrian safety, Ishikawa said.

"The technology helps, but it still comes down to human behavior," he said. "We're still asking drivers and pedestrians to make good choices."

Besides installing the timers, the Department of Transportation is planning several public-service announcement campaigns in the coming months.

The unusually high number of pedestrian fatalities at the beginning of 2007 has highlighted the issue this year, although the state Legislature and the administration have disagreed on how to address pedestrian safety. A $3 million pedestrian safety measure set off a political battle during the summer, with Gov. Linda Lingle vetoing the measure, the Legislature overriding the veto and Lingle ultimately deciding to withhold the money.

Fixing the state's most dangerous intersections has also been stalled by quarrels over who holds responsibility for each road, Stanton said.

"The public really doesn't care about whose road it is, whether it's a county road or state road," Stanton said. "All they care about is making it safer to cross the street."

"Pedestrian safety is a serious problem," she said. "We don't want it forgotten and we don't want it just checked off."