More bike lanes proposed for Ward and Pensacola

Whether you love or hate bike lanes, now is the time to speak up as the city is seeking public input on two proposed bike lane projects for Ward Avenue and Pensacola Street on Thursday at Blaisdell Center.

For Ward Avenue the city Department of Transportation Services is proposing one-way protected bike lanes on each side from Ala Moana Boulevard to King Street. On Pensacola Street it is proposing a two-way protected lane for the Diamond Head side, stretching from Wilder Avenue to Waimanu Street.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the projects are part of the city’s continuing effort to create an urban grid of bicycle lanes connecting streets going both mauka and makai, in addition to the ones on King and South streets.

Standing at Pensacola and South King streets Thursday morning, Caldwell pointed out the Biki station, with pretty much all of the bikes checked out, and bicyclists riding along the King Street cycle track.

“We want to get it right, but we want to get it done,” said Caldwell, “and I believe as we create this urban grid, we’re going to see more and more people riding.”

Both projects would cost an estimated $900,000 and could be completed by the end of the year or early next year. Ward Avenue is slated for resurfacing, so would most likely not be done until early next year.

Approximately 40 on-street parking stalls on Ward Avenue and 30 on Pensacola Street — both metered and nonmetered — would be removed for the bike lane projects. Most of the on-street parking next to Blaisdell Center would remain. In addition, some sections of Pensacola Street would be reduced to one travel lane.

“Our streets are our biggest open outdoor asset by far,” said Caldwell, “and for the most part, for most of the 20th century, we designed them for cars. We’re now trying to design them for cars and people and bikes and buses and, someday, rail.”

The public is invited to a community meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Blaisdell Center’s Pikake Room to provide input. The meeting will be broadcast on Facebook live, and comments are welcome by email for those who cannot attend.

“We really want the public to come out, help us get these bikeways right, make sure they fit into the neighborhoods and that everybody’s input is considered and weighed in,” said Jon Nouchi, deputy director of the city Department of Transportation Services.

The city decided to try out two different bike lane designs for Pensacola Street and Ward Avenue, said Nouchi.

“Ward and Pensacola are very important,” he said. “They connect one of the most residentially dense neighborhoods in the urban core in Makiki, and Ward is up and coming with the development of Kakaako.”

Proposed bike lanes in the past have generated some controversy, particularly the King Street cycle track, a pilot project installed on the mauka side at a cost of about $500,000 in 2015.

Chris Sayers, the city’s bicycle coordinator, said Honolulu has seen an increase in miles of bike lanes over the past five years. The city currently has 65 miles of bike lanes, 1.5 miles of buffered bike lanes and 2.5 miles of protected bike lanes.

Sayers said surveys have shown that bicyclists feel safer with protected lanes, which are separated from traffic by curbs, planters or posts.

Ellie Bigelow of Waikiki, a retired legal assistant who has been biking daily around Honolulu for 30 years to go to medical appointments and grocery shopping, said she would welcome the new lanes.

“I’m a die-hard for cycling, and I wish they had more bike lanes,” she said.