Bicycles are considered a cheap and easy way to get around. Even along sometimes hot and hilly Honolulu routes, bikes have their place.
But several new plans are being pushed forward that would add hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to encourage bike riding.
First is the plan to put a bridge over the Ala Wai Canal for folks walking or riding a bicycle. It already has a federal grant for $25 million with total estimates of around $63 million, according to news reports.
The other plan calls for a 3.51-mile path connecting the West Loch Bike Path and the existing Pearl Harbor Historic Trail. According to a report by the Hawaii Bicycling League and the state Transportation Department, this plan is a big one.
It calls for hundreds of feet of retaining walls, plus utility relocation; demolition and construction of new bridge structures at Waikele Stream and Kapakahi Stream; paving the 9- to-10-foot path with concrete; and installation of concrete posts to prevent the use of the bikeway by motorized vehicles. Construction is estimated to start now at a cost of $15.7 million.
How much do you want to bet that this won’t be the last you see of those folks with their hands out?
It is an interesting note that these bikeways came about as part of the Navahine v. Hawaii Department of Transportation settlement agreement. That was the lawsuit by Hawaii students who sued the state over climate pollution from the transportation sector.
Part of the agreement was to complete the statewide pedestrian, bicycle and transit network around Pearl Harbor and the retaining walls and bridges. The $63 million Ala Wai project comes from city studies with the idea to connect University Avenue in Moiliili to Kalaimoku Street in Waikiki with a bridge across the Ala Wai Canal from University Avenue to Waikiki.
No mention was made of why transportation other than footpower was included. If city buses were good enough for Honolulu’s longest-serving mayor, Frank Fasi, why aren’t city buses good enough for the 32,000 people coming in and out of Waikiki on a daily basis?
The plan includes the somewhat bizarre reasoning that a footbridge would “support neighborhood and regional vibrancy with an attractive, world class crossing of the Ala Wai Canal that enhances Honolulu’s cityscape and public realm, further establishes the canal and Waikiki as a regional destination, and celebrates of Hawaiian heritage and character.”
No mention was made on whether the considered bridge also takes care of lost puppies and promises you at least a B+ in Algebra II.
With the Pearl Harbor and Ala Wai projects already estimated at a total of at least $80 million, it is clear that transportation via low-cost pedal power for the consumer doesn’t mean the government is off the hook. It will eventually be funding Honolulu transportation with either two or four wheels.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
