Honolulu begins phased rollout of 20 mph school-zone speed limits under Bill 44

The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services told the City Council committee it has begun a phased effort to put the new 20 miles-per-hour school-zone classification from Bill 44 into practice and to install the related signs and traffic-calming measures.

“Under that 20 mile per hour classification, we made that now the new default speed limit,” Complete Streets Administrator Renee Espio said, summarizing the primary change in Bill 44.

The ordinance created a new 20 mph classification for school zones and made 20 mph the default speed where a different limit is not otherwise posted; staff presented the technical steps and resource constraints involved in changing signage and implementing accompanying traffic-calming projects. The department estimated there are roughly 600 to 800 school-zone speed signs that need replacement and said it has not received additional permanent staffing for the work.

DTS described three funding avenues it is pursuing. Administrator Espio said the department applied to the state Safe Routes to School committee for approximately $1 million to replace signs islandwide and that the Council included a $500,000 council ad for the next fiscal year that DTS plans to request the administration to release. “We are grateful that we got a council ad for 500,000 in next fiscal year, and we are planning to ask the administration for approval to spend that,” Espio said.

Implementation will combine opportunistic updates tied to larger street-rehabilitation projects and more targeted sign-replacement batches. Espio said the department will coordinate sign changes through a mix of DFM (Department of Facility Maintenance) work orders, DDC (Department of Design and Construction) rehabilitation projects and private contractors when funding allows; she said rehab projects can be slow, so DTS will seek faster options when feasible. “If we have a rehab project, we'll jump on that, but those tend to be the longest projects,” Espio said.

Staff stressed that Bill 44 does not automatically change speed limits on state-owned routes. Council Member Diopolo asked about schools that front Farrington Highway; Espio said language added to Bill 44 clarified the 20 mph classification did not apply to state routes, though other counties sometimes slow state highways near schools without an ordinance. “I wasn't sure if that was necessary or a good idea,” Espio said, noting the department can reach out to state DOT about alignment on state routes.

DTS also described non-sign measures already underway: speed humps, raised crosswalks and rehabs on high-injury corridors, some funded and built by state contractors. The department said it will add the 20 mph check to its Complete Streets checklist so rehab projects will consider the new school-zone speed classification during construction.

On outreach, Espio said the statutory requirement establishing the 20 mph school limit limits the department’s public-comment role for setting the baseline speed, but DTS is considering mass communications and neighborhood-level notifications once funding and implementation timing are clearer. The department has started a voluntary distribution program for Vision Zero bumper stickers and yard signs tied to a short pledge form as an interim community-awareness step.

Council members asked about timing, coordination with DFM and DDC crews, volunteer and nonprofit contributions, and whether the state could incorporate the school-zone change into driver education materials; DTS said it would reach out to state partners about those possibilities. No formal votes or ordinance amendments were taken at the committee hearing; staff described planning steps, funding applications and operational coordination as next tasks.

The committee discussion also reiterated that Bill 44 was adopted unanimously by the Council last year and is now statutory direction for DTS to implement school-zone speed reductions and traffic-calming near schools.