City seeks input on redesign of Ala Wai Boulevard

The city is looking for input from members of the public for a project to improve safety and enjoyment of Ala Wai Boulevard, the one-way, three-lane corridor that traces the makai banks of the Ala Wai Canal from Kapahulu to Kalakaua avenues in Waikiki.

The Honolulu Department of Transportation Services will host an online community meeting from 6 to 8 tonight to kick off its Ala Wai Boulevard Complete Streets project, part of the city’s overall program to design streets for all users, regardless of age, ability and mode of transportation.

“The project is in the initial stage, and we will be presenting various concepts to improve pedestrian, bicycle and motorist safety to receive feedback on at the community meeting,” Renee Espiau, Complete Streets administrator, wrote Tuesday in an email, noting some potential designs could include new curb extensions, pedestrian crossings, sidewalk enhancements, shared-use paths, protected bikeways, lighting improvements and speed reduction measures.

Thirty-­eight bicycle and pedestrian injuries were recorded along Ala Wai Boulevard from 2012-2016, and the department’s forthcoming Oahu Pedestrian Plan “identifies five High Pedestrian Injuries Intersections on the project corridor,” she said.

Since March more than 100 public comments have been received on the department’s website, Espiau added, “with the vast majority commenting on pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements needed.”

Online comments can be made and read by clicking on an interactive map on the project website, using virtual pins, lines and pop-up windows placed at specific points along the boulevard, “a historical and significant street that connects residents, visitors, and businesses within Waikiki to surrounding neighborhoods,” the website says.

You can choose topics such as making it safer to walk/bike or cross; improving an intersection; adding or improving lighting, landscaping or loading zones; adding a bike share station; or making sidewalks wider at pinpointed locations, and add your own comments.

A scan of the map, which is accompanied by how-to-use directions, showed the densest comment cluster, calling for improved pedestrian and bicycler safety, at the intersection of Ala Wai Boulevard and McCully Bridge.

The bridge is “dangerous … a bike lane on McCully Street magically reappears on the bridge and then soon disappears,” one commenter said, “(and) cars don’t respect the bike lane lines especially if turning.”

When the bike lane ends, “you have to merge with traffic and cross lanes,” another commenter said, adding, “I am surprised more people don’t get hit here.”

On a different topic, a motorist complained it was humbug to get to the bridge from Kalakaua Avenue due to the one-way traffic: “Right now it’s a really circuitous route to get out of the western Ala Wai area to the McCully Bridge — I wish I could drive eastbound/southbound for this one block.”

Asked whether Complete Streets would consider two-way traffic, at least for one block, as this commenter suggested, Espiau demurred.

“While we are looking at a variety of potential improvements, conversion to a two-way street is not a concept that we are significantly considering,” she said.

On the other hand, with the bike lane on the canal side currently running between traffic and parking lanes, “changes to parking along the street will be part of the considerations in assessing potential safety improvements to the street,” she said.

Another Honolulu resident, Becky Faunce, wrote in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that “bicyclists love the Ala Moana end of Ala Wai (Boulevard) but are shocked when they encounter traffic in both directions,” suggesting the area be closed “to all but resident vehicles and (made) one way as is the rest of the Ala Wai.”

Other commenters demanded a safer crosswalk at Lipeepee Street, which meets Ala Wai Boulevard on the Ewa side of Kalakaua Avenue, but the area isn’t covered by this project, Espiau said.

Another cluster of comments flagged the Kalakaua Bridge intersection.

“Please make it safer for bicycles to go straight on Ala Wai Blvd.,” one said, noting, “currently, the bike lane disappears and the right lane turns right” at Kalakaua Bridge.

Others pinpointed Seaside Avenue, a busy turnoff toward Waikiki, on whose Ewa side the “sidewalk is too narrow for safe walking with such high speed traffic beside it,” recommending the sidewalk be widened.

Faunce also wanted to call attention to the department’s project to add a pedestrian bridge over the Ala Wai Canal, for which the public comment period ends April 22.

While supporting a pedestrian bridge, she and husband John Faunce, a retired engineer, criticized the proposed high-flying, modernist design, recommending it instead echo the historic features of the Kalakaua Bridge, built in 1929.

Espiau said the Ala Wai Boulevard Complete Streets project is independent of the Ala Wai Bridge and Ala Wai flood control projects but will be designed in coordination with these projects to ensure compatibility.

“That said,” she added, “any pedestrian and bicycle improvements would work well with Ala Wai Bridge.”

Get Involved

>> To join the virtual meeting, register at rebrand.ly/CSAlaWai.

>> To comment online, go to honolulu.gov/completestreets/waikiki. Comments also can be emailed to completestreets@honolulu.gov.