LIHUE — A rapid transit hub on Eiwa Street and office spaces in the now vacant Big Save building is what county officials are envisioning for the Lihue Civic Center as plans move ahead to redefine the busy area of town.
At the core of several plans to revitalize the Lihue town core, some officials say, is a need to shape the Lihue Civic Center area into a centralized business and transportation hub and balance it with the changing needs of island residents.
“We’re really looking at creating more of a campus setting that unites the Historic County Building with the Lihue Civic Center and the State Office Building as a green campus that is bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly,” County Transportation Planner Lee Steinmetz told the Kauai County Council during a recent meeting about the plans to reshape the county complex and surrounding areas.
Among one of the more noticeable changes planned for the area, Steinmetz said, is alleviating future traffic congestion by moving services for the Kauai Bus on Hardy Street to the mauka side of Eiwa Street.
The move would transform Eiwa Street into a one-way street — from Hardy Street to Rice Street — and make it accessible to pedestrians, vehicles and bicycles.
It is a move that would cater to projected shifts in transportation preferences by residents — one in which they will increasingly choose to walk or ride a bike for short trips but use vehicles to travel long distances, Steinmetz said.
“We really have to be looking at our infrastructure improvements on our roads and making sure that we’re designing facilities for this mode shift to actually happen,” Steinmetz said.
Using the road’s current width, preliminary plans call for the creation of a multi-use pedestrian path onto Eiwa Street and bus turnout lanes, along with parking areas, on the mauka side of the street.
Doing this, Steinmetz said, would allow for right turns only from Eiwa Street onto Rice Street and left turns from Rice Street to Eiwa Street.
These plans, he said, would also reconfigure county parking lots to create a intersection-like design between the Lihue Civic Center and the Historic County Building.
“Because we are making these changes in relationship to Hardy Street, we have a pretty good sense, although it’s not finalized, that a lot of this we will be able to fund as a part of the Hardy Street improvements and get this done quickly rather than waiting a long time,” Steinmetz said.
In all, county Building Division Chief Doug Haigh said about $300,000 has been set aside for site work on Eiwa Street while road improvements on Hardy Street take place. Work could begin this summer.
Those funds, Haigh said, can be used by county officials to obtain matching federal funds for road work.
But two-way traffic on Eiwa Street, Steinmetz added, will be reopened while the roundabout at the Umi Street and Hardy Street intersection is being constructed to alleviate potential traffic congestion through the area.
“That will be to kind of simplify that intersection a little and allow through traffic through the area during the construction of the roundabout,” Steinmetz said.
During that time, left turns from Eiwa Street onto Rice Street will not be allowed, but left turns from Rice Street onto Eiwa Street will be.
“I’ve been waiting for this because … there has been a big debate about Eiwa Street for many years — there are good arguments on both sides about keeping cars in or out,” Councilman Tim Bynum said. “To me, this kind of splits the difference and takes the best of both worlds.”
Fellow Councilman Ross Kagawa, however, said he was concerned by aesthetic proposals to replace some parking areas within the Lihue Civic Center with plants.
“To me, if parking is going to be a problem, then even though we love greenery sometimes, eliminating those areas for planters or what have you will add more parking,” Kagawa said. “I don’t want us to do something and then say, ‘Wow, we don’t have enough parking now.’”
Plans for the Lihue Civic Center area also include transforming now vacant space, once occupied by Big Save, into county department offices.
The grocery store closed its doors in 2011 shortly after the company was acquired by Times Supermarkets.
County Engineer Larry Dill said proposals to reopen a grocery or convenience store were ruled out recently as a part of a countywide study to reassess office spaces assigned to county departments.
Having the nearly 16,000-square-foot space available for office space, Dill said, will help alleviate space crunches experienced by some county departments.
Current plans call for moving Kauai County Transportation Agency administrative and customer service offices for the Kauai Bus from the county base yard to the former Big Save space, Steinmetz said.
Council Chair Jay Furfaro said the space could also be used to house the Office of the County Auditor, which is the only department not located on county property.
In all, $47,904 was spent on building lease payments for the Office of the County Auditor last year, according to budget documents.
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @darinmoriki.
