Spokes folks decry Hawaii

Compared with other U.S. states, Hawaii isn’t very bicycle-friendly — and its ranking has only gotten worse in recent years, according to a new national report.

The Aloha State came in 43rd out of 50 for the best states in which to get around by bicycle, the Washington, D.C.-based League of American Bicyclists found in its 2015 "Bicycle Friendly State Ranking," which was released this week.

State transportation officials received dismal grades for their bicycle-related policies and programs, as well as for their efforts to fund bicycle projects and infrastructure statewide. However, the report card does not consider various local efforts on the city and county level, such as Hono­lulu’s new (and controversial) protected bike track on King Street

Last year Hawaii ranked 40th in the league’s annual report.

In 2008 it ranked 14th.

"You could do so much better if you’re connected around the island. … There’s so much more that could be done," Chad Tani­gu­chi, executive director of the Oahu-based Hawaii Bicycling League, said Tuesday. He agreed with most of the League of American Bicyclists’ findings.

The unnervingly narrow shoulder routes for cyclists along Oahu’s Windward and Leeward coastal highways are "terrible," and the state Department of Transportation could vastly improve conditions if it tapped unused millions of dollars set aside for bike improvements and hired a planner to fill its vacant bike coordinator position, he added.

"They haven’t had one for three or four years, and that’s really bad. We need an advocate internally within the DOT to say that the law is now Complete Streets, and they have to consider walking and biking." Complete Streets refers to city planning efforts to make roadways more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.

State DOT officials did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

It’s not clear how much of the state’s transportation budget goes toward bicycle lane improvements around the island, or how many total miles of bike lanes state officials have created. However, the League of American Bicyclists rankings found that less than 2 percent of the federal transportation dollars that the state receives goes to such efforts.

Hawaii has plummeted in the rankings since 2008 as the League of American Bicyclists has refined its formula to better rank the states, said Elizabeth Murphy, the group’s communications director. The league now gives more weight to how states spend on infrastructure, working to connect bike projects, she said.

In its 2015 report the group flagged the state for not spending some $20 million in federal Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School funds currently available. The state DOT is trying to overcome a backlog of hundreds of millions of dollars set aside for transportation projects.

While Hawaii as a state gets poor bicycle grades, Hono­lulu transit officials have fared better with the League of American Bicyclists. In recent years they’ve worked to make some corridors across town more bike-friendly — but city officials and cyclists agree that much work remains to make up for previous decades of inaction by city leaders.

In Honolulu, 2.4 percent of commuters were bicyclists, according to 2013 Census data. The city also spends about $2 million a year on bike projects, according to Jesse Broder Van Dyke, a spokes­man for Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

In 2014 the League of American Bicyclists included Hono­lulu in its list of some 325 bicycle-friendly communities. The city scored high marks for public outreach and establishing bike-friendly ordinances, but it scored low in categories such as bike ridership, total number of bike lanes, bike safety and evaluation and planning.

Workers aim to have new striping and lights in place by the end of the month so that cyclists heading in both directions can use the King Street protected bike track. Currently only Diamond Head-bound riders are supposed to use it, but many Ewa-bound riders use the protected lane anyway. City officials estimate that about 600 riders use the King Street cycle track each day.

For its statewide report card, the League of American Bicyclists called on state transportation officials to hire a full-time bike coordinator and for state leaders to pass a law requiring that drivers give cyclists a distance of 3 feet when passing them on the road. A measure that proposed that this year, Senate Bill 418, died in the legislative session.

The group also said the state should pass a so-called "vulnerable road user law," which sets up harsher penalties for negligently injuring or killing pedestrians, cyclists and emergency personnel. However, Hawaii already does have laws on the books aimed at protecting vulnerable users.

Washington state scored the highest in the group’s rankings, while Ala­bama scored the lowest.

"HBL looks forward to working with Hawaii DOT to improve conditions on the ground for people who walk and bike, thereby improving our scores and rating," Tani­gu­chi, the bicyclists group leader, said in a follow-up statement. "We can make Hawaii a paradise for walking and biking if we recognize the tremendous value for residents and visitors."

Star-Advertiser reporter Rob Shikina contributed to this story.