KAILUA — Traffic problems around Kailua High School could be reduced if the state builds a new access road that connects to Kalaniana'ole Highway without going through a residential area, a consultant's report concluded.

For three decades, residents of the Pohakupu subdivision have complained about speeders, crashes and near-misses that have frightened senior citizens, destroyed property and killed pets as hundreds of vehicles daily traverse their neighborhood to get to and from the school on Ulumanu Drive, the only traffic access to the campus.

Residents have sought a new access road to the school since the 1970s, came close to getting one in the 1980s and initiated this latest push about nine years ago.

In a draft environmental assessment for the project, the consultant recommended building the new access road from Kalaniana'ole Highway that traverses land adjacent to the Women's Community Correctional Center and ends near the high school's gymnasium. The plan also calls for a new parking lot, which could add $1 million to the $5.1 million budgeted for the work.

The draft environmental assessment is up for public review, after which the state Department of Accounting and General Services will decide whether to follow the recommendation or select another option, said Lance Maja of DAGS. The public has until Feb. 22 to respond.

Proponents are happy with the outcome of the assessment because the recommended alternative would reduce the number of cars going through the neighborhood.

"We support the whole thing because it adds the parking lot," said Pohakupu resident Pete Miller. "But the catch is it still impacts our neighborhood and that little ... road."

Miller said he would ask for sidewalk improvements on Ulumanu to make it safer for pedestrians and to improve the road, including widening it if possible.

The morning traffic to Kailua High is hectic, with as many as 668 cars counted one morning on Ulumanu, a 19-foot-wide road.

Students, faculty and staff coming from Waimanalo, which make up about half of the campus population, add to the traffic backlog on Kalaniana'ole because they must go through the Castle Medical Center intersection to get to Ulumanu.

Streets cutting through Pohakupu to bypass the intersection were closed to morning traffic about 30 years ago after two elementary students were struck by a car.

Buses drop off students at the end of 'Akiohala Street, a 60-foot road in Enchanted Lake that was once slated as the main entrance to the school, but was never converted because of neighbors' opposition.

Last October, school principal Francine Honda had expressed concerns about the new road because of safety and security issues for the campus. Honda also was worried that the school would have to maintain the new road.

The issues were studied as part of the assessment but some of them would still have to be resolved in the design stage of the project.

Under a previous administration, the city had said that it would maintain the road.

Honda said she has a copy of the draft environmental assessment, but couldn't comment until she studied it further.

The assessment lists seven alternatives, including doing nothing (see map on Page B1).

The consultant's preferred alternative is building a road adjacent to the correctional center. The second option was similar to the first but calls for closing the present entrance to students. The preferred option leaves it open.

The other alternatives include an access road through "Old Kukanono," a parking lot at the drop-off on 'Akiohala, and sidewalk improvements to Ulumanu or Ulupi'i streets.

Consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, which prepared the draft environmental assessment, estimated that an additional $1 million would be needed for the parking lot and other safety concerns.

"It's just a matter of going back and asking for parking lot money," said Joe Ryan, a Waimanalo resident who was among dozens pushing for the new access. "Or it can be done in phases."

The recommended solution meets the community's needs and has the added benefit of reducing traffic congestion at the Castle Medical Center intersection, Ryan said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.