LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council yesterday approved a request from Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s administration to apply for and use $6 million in federal funds to build the next phase of a bicycle-pedestrian pathway being built along the coastline
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council yesterday approved a request from Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s administration to apply for and use $6 million in federal funds to build the next phase of a bicycle-pedestrian pathway being built along the coastline from Nawiliwili to Anahola.
But the proposal to build the next phase of the pathway, from Ahukini Pier to Lydgate Park, sparked opposition from some audience members at the council meeting held at the historic County Building.
Kapa‘a resident Glenn Mickens and Joe Rosa, a retired state roads inspector, cited the need to have the federal government reallocate the funds for the construction of more highways to ease long-nagging traffic congestion in East Kaua‘i, the most populated district on the island.
Mickens and Rosa said the county faces serious problems like homelessness and the lack of affordable housing, and that the development of the next phase of the pathway project was not a priority.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said it remains to be seen whether the entire project will be a success, but noted on days when she either drives to work or takes the bus to Lihu‘e from her home in Kilauea, she sees residents using coastline areas in Kapa‘a that are part of the pedestrian-bicycle pathway. Its availability benefits Kauaians, she said.
In its action yesterday, the council approved Baptiste’s request to apply to the federal government and use them for the following: $5 million for construction work; $500,000 for planning and design services, and $500,000 for land acquisition.
The bicycle-pedestrian project was supported by Baptiste when he sat on the council some five years ago, and by council chairman Kaipo Asing.
The multi-phased project has generally drawn public support and, when completed, would open beach access to the public along more than 16 miles of shoreline.
The first three phases, which include portions that run along the coastline by Lydgate Park and parts of Kapa‘a, are either under construction, are planned for construction, or are in the planning phase.
The fourth phase, the subject of the council meeting yesterday, is planned to run from Lydgate Park to Ahukini.
The final two phases would run from Ahukini to Nawiliwili, a distance of about six miles, and from Kuna Bay (Donkey Beach) to Anahola, a distance of about four miles. In all, the six-phased project would be developed at estimated cost of as much as $30 million, with funding coming mostly from the federal government, county officials have said.
That is too much money to spend for something that is not a priority, Mickens contended.
“I am here protesting the use of millions of our tax money — federal, state or county, it is still our money — to build miles of unneeded bike paths,” Mickens said.
He said the project will benefit a few “recreational people,” and that serious bicyclists will not use the pathway.
“If any of you feel that bike paths need building, then widen our highways and put a decent path along them as they have in Kona (on the Big Island),” Mickens said.
Mickens dared council members to use bicycles as alternate forms of transportation.
“I ask each and every member of the council and those in this room if any of you will ever abandon your car or truck and use a bicycle or the bus?” Mickens asked in testifying before the council. “If you will answer honestly, your answer is ‘no.'”
Mickens said the bicycle pathway seems to be a pet project of Yukimura’s, and that “she has a right to her opinion just as I feel I have a right to mine.”
Yukimura has said the bicycle-pedestrian pathway could help take traffic off Kaua‘i’s crowded roads. The bicycle pathway could become part of an islandwide intermodal transportation system she has proposed.
It is a proposal that has drawn some public support at council meetings.
Even if the bicycle-pedestrian pathway were built and in operation, the county isn’t likely to find the funds for its maintenance, Mickens contended.
“I disagree with my friend, Kaipo (Asing), that when more maintenance funds are needed, the council will appropriate them,” Mickens said.
A past presentation by councilman Mel Rapozo on the poor condition of some county parks bears this out, Mickens said. The situation, however, could be changed if there were more funds and county employees for maintenance programs, Mickens has said.
County Department of Public Works official Doug Haigh said the maintenance of the bicycle-pedestrian pathway was included in the cost of operating county parks, and that there was no specific breakout cost for maintaining the path.
The planning for the fourth phase takes into account methods to keep maintenance cost down, and that funds for maintenance are likely to come from the county’s general fund, Haigh said.
Yukimura said separate maintenance costs for the pathway should be considered, and noted that parts of the pathway are not part of the parks, hence there would be no referencing for maintenance.
In opposing the project, Rosa said the county should take care of infrastructure needs first. “I am not a person for bikeways. Take care of the infrastructure and other things the county needs worse to be done. That is what I say. So bikeways, I cannot see it.”
Rosa said he served as state inspector for a roadway project in Kapa‘a in the past. He said he recorded only eight bicyclists using a path from Leonard’s Chevron station on Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a to Otsuka’s store during a given period. The low count suggested that there was no key interest in using bicycles to get around town at the time, Rosa said.
That was in the past, and perhaps another count today could show a different story, because bicycling is more popular today than it was in past years, Yukimura said.
Rosa also contended the state hasn’t done a good job in maintaining the shoulders of the road used by bicycles. The county is not likely to do a better job, given its limited resources and funds, Rosa said.
Rosa said an accident could be waiting to happen if a bicyclist collides with walker on the pathway path.
But Haigh noted that the width for the entire bicycle-pedestrian project would run between 10 to 12 feet, a width that would allow for mixed uses and reduce the risks for accidents.
