A recent HPD safety program to ticket jaywalking pedestrians may result in the installation of a half-million dollar crosswalk signal in front of the Makaka Surfside apartments.

Apartment residents there had tried for months to convince officials that such a signal was needed. But the state Department of Transportation disagreed because it said the number of crosswalk pedestrians at the location was so low.

Now the DOT believes a pedestrian-activated crosswalk signal is justified, and it will seek at least $500,000 in funding from the Legislature next year to install it, said DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

"We did a study and found out that it warranted a traffic light," Ishikawa said. "Ironically, we found that we could justify a traffic light after the police started enforcing the crosswalk law. Everybody started using the crosswalk."

Specific figures for the number of pedestrians using the crosswalk were not available.

Police began a department-wide pedestrian-safety awareness campaign in March in which thousands of tickets have been issued to jaywalkers throughout O'ahu. Before June, the fines ran between $70 and $80. Since then they've gone up to $130.

District 8 police in Makaha apparently did such a good job that Makaha pedestrians began using the crosswalk at Farrington Highway and 'Alawa Place in droves.

"It's long overdue — I really hope it's funded," said Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, D-45th (Wai'anae, Makaha, Makua), who was delighted with the turn of events.

Shimabukuro said western Farrington Highway has had a string of pedestrian injuries and fatalities in recent months, and pointed out that in February, a 63-year-old pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run accident at the very stretch of road that fronts the Surfside apartments.

In particular, elderly and disabled apartment residents there have complained about the dangers of trying to cross the highway, she said.

While Jo Jordan, a member of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board, agreed that Surfside apartment residents have long called for the crosswalk light, she said Makaha motorists have been less enthusiastic at board meetings because of the inconvenience of adding another traffic light to the growing number of signals on Farrington highway. One traffic light already stands approximately 300 feet west of the proposed pedestrian crosswalk signal location.

Area residents opposed to the light have argued that a main reason pedestrians jaywalk is because the bus stop near the apartments is a long walk from the pedestrian crossing. A simpler, less-expensive solution, they argue, would be to move the bus stop closer to the crosswalk so pedestrians wouldn't be inclined to jaywalk, Jordan said.

But Shimabukuro said moving the bus stop closer to the crosswalk isn't feasible for a number of reasons — it would be too close to the highway, it would block the crosswalk, and it would interfere with an adjacent private driveway.

Jordan had another suggestion:

"If you can't move the bus stop because it'll block the crosswalk or a driveway entrance, then move the crosswalk to where the bus stop currently sits," she said.

"I would rather see the state attempt to spend a couple of hundred bucks to move a crosswalk to a more feasible location than leaving it the way it is, going to legislation next January, fighting for $500,000, and if we get it it won't be until June, and then it won't be built for another year and a half."

Shimabukuro said she found the idea of moving the crosswalk intriguing, and that it deserved further study. But she said she still favored the pedestrian-activated crosswalk light because it would otherwise leave Farrington open to through traffic.

Ultimately, Jordan said, pedestrian safety has a lot to do with the pedestrians themselves.

"People have to learn to use crosswalks," she said. "And if it takes you a few more seconds to walk 50 more feet, then you ought to do it."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.