WAILUA — Building a smaller bridge under the Kamalani Kai Bridge in Wailua, or putting fencing around the bridge and creating new beach accesses, could help protect children playing on the bridge and provide vehicular access to Wailua Bay, Mayor
WAILUA — Building a smaller bridge under the Kamalani Kai Bridge in Wailua, or putting fencing around the bridge and creating new beach accesses, could help protect children playing on the bridge and provide vehicular access to Wailua Bay, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste was told last night.
Residents offered those recommendations and more at a meeting Baptiste called at the Lydgate Park pavilion here to find a more-permanent, community-derived solution to the problem of a beach-access road running right under the Kamalani Kai Bridge.
Baptiste and residents are trying to balance reducing the risk of children being struck by vehicles as they play on and around the bridge, with continuing to provide vehicular beach access for fishermen and others.
Baptiste called last night’s meeting and another earlier meeting after he received public complaints about motorists who sped under the bridge en route to the beach, posing a threat to children and other beach-goers.
For safety reasons, Baptiste had boulders installed under the bridge, to block vehicular access, last month.
But the action created another problem: complaints from fishermen and beach-goers that the boulders prevented them from getting to Wailua Bay.
At yesterday’s meeting, one longtime fishermen said he wants to protect beach access, but said that if he had his way he would ban vehicles from the beach, because they pose a hazard.
He said he would like to see a parking area established on the edge of Wailua Golf Course by the bay. This way, vehicles would not be parked on the beach, and would not pose a problem for beach-goers, he said.
He said he sleeps at the East Kaua‘i beach on nighttime fishing outings, and would breath easier knowing that no vehicles could travel on the coastline.
Finding alternate beach accesses north of the bridge could work, said Roland E. Licona, an official with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands on Kaua‘i, who spoke as a private citizen.
He said machinery could easily cut a path for beach access north of the bridge.
Dennis Barretto of Kapa‘a suggested creating a beach access south of the bridge, closer to beach areas by an area known as the marine camp. “Take 30 feet off the golf course and make the access through that way,” Barretto said.
Kaua‘i architect Avery Youn also recommended an alternate beach access.
But if one were to continue to allow traffic under the bridge, a solution would be to build small fences around the base of the bridge to contain children at play, and to build a smaller, arched bridge under the structure of the existing 16-feet-high bridge, Youn said.
Removing slides on the bridge also should be done, Youn said.
Thomas Noyes, chairman of the Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate Park, said if motorists were to continue to drive under the bridge, they should be instructed to travel only south along the beach, either by signs or other means.
The beach areas fronting the beach and areas north should be closed off to vehicular traffic, Noyes said. “It should be for sunbathing; a calm, peaceful place,” Noyes said before the meeting.
Motorists who drive on the beach should be required to obtain county permits, and those who violate permit conditions, such as engaging in speeding and driving recklessly, for instance, would be subject to maximum fines of $1,000 and 100 hours of community service, Licona suggested.
Tim Bynum, a longtime community leader with Friends of Kamalani and a staff person with the mayor’s Ka Leo O Kaua‘i program, said residents came up with recommendations at an earlier meeting that could work.
They included: speed bumps; signs; setting speed limits; fencing around the bridge; alternate beach accesses; and boulders to protect vegetation.
Bynum said the recommendations will be reviewed, and solutions will be forthcoming, and that Baptiste, as the top-elected county official, will decide which solution or solutions to implement.
Before the meeting started, Baptiste said he wanted residents to visit the bridge, and offer their advice.
“We are hoping that everybody thinks out of the box, treats each other with respect, and by the end of tonight, we will have a direction we will be going in,” Baptiste said.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.
