In a recent Garden Island article, “Making more bike, pedestrian lanes,” the County’s transportation planner, Lee Steinmetz was quoted as saying, “What we’re trying to do is create a bicycle and pedestrian network throughout Lihue Town. So if you work
In a recent Garden Island article, “Making more bike, pedestrian lanes,” the County’s transportation planner, Lee Steinmetz was quoted as saying, “What we’re trying to do is create a bicycle and pedestrian network throughout Lihue Town. So if you work at the Civic Center and you want to go to the mall, you can ride a bike instead of having to drive.”
If you drove to work (which probably 99 percent of the working public does), how would you get a bike to go to the mall?
And, what study has ever been done showing how many people on Kauai use or will ever use a bike for transportation and not solely for recreation? The poll just taken by TGI asking if people will abandon their vehicles to take a bus, bike or walk showed that they will NOT do this.
Why this insistence on building bike lanes all over our island taking away road space for our No. 1 problem, traffic, when any study will show that people on Kauai for whatever reason, convenience or need will never abandon their vehicles. Due to age, rain, sun, safety or whatever, people will never use a bike for transportation.
As population increases on Kauai so will vehicles. We desperately need alternate and wider roads to alleviate traffic, not bike lanes and wider sidewalks.
We have bike lanes being built along our highways with off ramps crossing them—accidents waiting to happen. We have driveways crossing the bike path across from Safeway market and even vehicles crossing the multi-use path by the Kapaa Neighborhood Center going to the beach or swimming pool – wrong and dangerous planning.
I believe that there is a law prohibiting motorized vehicles from driving on these paths (unless they are emergency vehicles) and yet the above examples plus vehicles driving and parking on the multi-use path by the neighborhood center is happening.
A county manager would not let these things happen.
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Joe Rosa is a Lihue resident.
