Wailua Bike Path Route

SUBHEAD: There is little time left to have your voice heard on routing of bike path through Wailua Area.
By Juan Wilson on 21 July 2009 -

Yesterday, at the office of the state's DOT office in Puhi, Ray McCormick, the Kauai District Engineer, hosted a meeting of concerned residents to present current state and county projects in the general area between Lydgate State Park and Coconut Market Place. Mr. McCormick held the meeting because he believed public participation on still flexible details of these projects would enhance the highway and bike path final configurations. An interested and informed group of Kauai residents attended the meeting representing the Hawaiian community, environmentalists, planners, and community activists. There were many positive suggestions made and Mr. McCormick was receptive to the group. Today he was to meet with our mayor to discuss these projects and our concerns.

As it is now structured, Kauai is doomed to a year of suffering intolerable traffic through the Wailua River corridor because it was insisted, by then Kauai mayor Bryan Baptiste, that the cane haul bridge carry two lanes of north bound traffic and the bike path. During the long construction period this will force all north and southbound traffic onto the existing two-lane highway bridge at a 10-15 mph limit. A simple alternative would have been to build the new lanes on a new bridge inland of the existing highway bridge. Then traffic would not have been as affected and the cane haul bridge might later have been used solely by the bikes and pedestrians. But that's not what we're getting.

Image above: Canal Route (blue) and Coastal Route (yellow) alternatives for bike path through Wailua River Area. Image by Juan Wilson. Click to enlarge.

Some small, yet important adjustments can still be made to improve the overall plan.There is now a very short window of opportunity to having any affect on these plans because $4 million of funding has been obtained through the federal stimulus program and final plans must submitted by early August or those funds will be redistributed to the Big Island. Comments on this projected work must be in by August 7th 2009. (See Ediitor's note below).

The major projects consist of two state components:

1) The widening to four lanes of the Kuhio Highway north of the Wailua River to the Kapaa bypass.

 2) The rebuilding of the existing cane haul bridge to accommodate two lanes of traffic and the bike pedestrian path.

It also consists of one County component:
3) The bike path from the Wailua river crossing north as far as the Kapaa bypass.

The routing of the alternative transportation "bike" path between Lihue and Kapaa has been a tortured history of misplaced priorities, hurried planning and bad decisions. The current state of the plans are as illogical as they will be impractical. One must remember, regardless of what Thomas Noyes says, the federal funding for alternative transportation that is going to our bike path is not earmarked for a "coastal recreation trail". It is funding for transportation alternatives to automotive traffic. Ideally, this alternative should be safe and efficient and not have negative impact on the environment or cultural sites.

Some, including ourselves, have advocated mauka (inland) routes for the bike path. One mauka scheme would lead through what were once cane fields from Lihue north of the Kuhio Highway, past Hanamaulu and follow the base of Kelepa Forest Reserve, and cross the Wailua River just mauka of the existing highway bridge. The route could then follow the public right of way behind the old Coco Palms along the canal and hook up with the canal way that goes behind the Foodland in Waipouli. This route would never have to cross the highway and would avoid problems of other routes on cultural sites and sensitive beach environments.

Where we are today is stuck with a crossing of the Wailua River makai (seaward) of the cane haul bridge structure that will carry two lanes of the Kuhio Highway. This route will be narrow and close to heavy traffic with accompanying noise, dust, and fumes. The bike path then is planned to run over the dunes and plants covering burial sites along Wailua Beach. It will then follow a twisted route up Papaloa Road, make a left at Lanikai Street, then absurdly backtrack east along the Kuhio Highway to Halelio Street until it can finally line up with a mauka path to Foodland. This is a ridiculous and unacceptable plan.

There are two schemes that are reasonable if the bike path must cross the Wailua River makai of the highway.

1) The Coastal Route
After exiting the cane haul bridge bike path the route would follow the mauka side of the rock wall dividing the highway from Wailua Beach. A new rock wall is constructed to protect the bike path from highway traffic. The path would follow Papaloa Road, but not turn west on Lanikai Street. Instead, the bike path would be driven through the Coconut Marketplace and hotel site roadways north of the Marketplace until it can croos the highway at the Foodland traffic light.

2) The Canal Route
After exiting the cane haul bridge bike path would follow the mauka side of the rock wall dividing the highway from Wailua Beach until it is north of Kuamoo Road. It would then ramp down to a pedestrian highway underpass (funded by the Coco Palms developer) and parallel Kuamoo Road until it reach the canal where it could then follow the public right of way to link eventually with Foodland.

There are problems with both of these routes, but they are minor compared to putting a bike path on top of Wailua Beach and damaging the cultural and environmental treasures there, or crossing the Kuhio Highway at grade with a bike/pedestrian transportation path at the worst traffic bottleneck on Kauai. We strongly recommend following one of these two routes if the bike path crosses the Wailua River seaward of the Kuhio Highway. [Editor's Note: We suggest you contact Mayor Carvalho, Doug Haig and Thomas Noyes as well as the The Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC) and the consultant on this matter.]

The OEQC said the following on 8 June 2009 at: Kauai District: Kawaihau
PROJECT: BRIDGE & ROAD WIDENING AT KUHIO HIGHWAY & WAILUA RIVER TMK: Various parcels, 3-9-02, 3-9-06; 4-1-03, 4-1-05, 4-3-01, 4-3-02, and 4-3-10 Permits: Department of Army Section 404 Nationwide Permit, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit for Storm Water Associated with Construction Activity, NPDES Permit for Dewatering, Section 401 Water Quality Certification, Noise, Construction Noise Variance – if required, Air Quality, Chapter 6E, HRS Historic Preservation Review, Coastal Zone Management Program Consistency Determination, Road, Grading/Grubbing, Building, Excavation, Drainage Plan Approval, Utility Service Agreements. The State of Hawaii (State), Department of Transportation (DOT), Highways Division is proposing to implement widening improvements to Kuhio Highway along an approximately 0.65-mile section of highway in the Kawaihau district of the island of Kauai. Kuhio Highway is planned to be widened on the southbound side from three to four lanes between the intersections of the Temporary Kapaa Bypass Road and Kuamoo Road. Other accessory improvements would be implemented with this highway widening. The existing right-turn storage lane along Kuamoo Road would also be extended mauka (inland) from its intersection with Kuhio Highway 650 feet. This highway project (Federal Aid Project No. 56A-01-06) is collectively referred to as the “Kuhio Highway Short-Term Improvements; Kuamoo Road to Temporary Bypass Road Project”. In addition to the highway widening improvements, the State DOT is also planning to relocate existing overhead utility lines (electrical, telephone, and cable) underground as part of mitigation measures for endangered and threatened sea birds present in the area based upon consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Existing overhead utility lines along the highway corridor would be relocated underground starting from an area just north of the Temporary Kapaa Bypass Road (near Aleka Loop) and proceed southbound to the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s (KIUC) Lydgate Substation at South Leho Drive. This utilities relocation would extend about 1.70 miles in length, and is being included as part of the highway widening project. Below is 45MB PDF file link for more details. http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Kauai/2000s/2009-07-08-KA-DEA-Kuhio-Hwy-Imp-Kuamoo-Rd.pdf Comments: DEA 30-day comment period starts with the date of this Notice. Address comments to the Proposing Agency and Consultant Wilson Okamoto Corp. YOUR COMMENT MUST BE IN TO AGENCY AND CONSULTANT BY AUGUST 7th, 2009 ADDRESSED TO: Proposing Agency: Department of Transportation, Highways Division, 869 Punchbowl Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. Darell Young, (808) 587-1835 Consultant: Wilson Okamoto Corporation, 1907 South Beretania Street, Suite 400, Honolulu, HI 96826.

Project Manager Ronald A. Sato, AICP, (808) 946-2277

POINTS I WILL STRESS RELATE TO: 1) No impact on environment (e.g. don't go over beach) 2) No disruption of cultural sites (e.g. beach or mauka burial sites) 3) Good traffic planning (e.g. do not have alternate route backtrack on Kuhio Hiway) 4) Safe conditions (e.g. Do not have pedestrian and bike traffic crossing busy highway bottleneck)

See also:

Island Breath: Alignment of Wailua Bridge Addition 4/12/07