Public meeting for bikeway projects in downtown Honolulu

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Public meeting for bikeway projects in downtown Honolulu
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Map of projects.

Honolulu -- The Department of Transportation Services Complete Streets program will be hosting a public meeting to present draft concept designs for bikeways along portions of South King Street, Punchbowl Street, and Bishop Street in downtown Honolulu.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 29, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the YWCA Laniakea at 1040 Richards Street, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813. Those unable to attend the meeting can watch it live on the City and County's Complete Streets Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/hnlcompletestreets

"These bikeway projects create important connections to destinations where thousands of people work and visit every day," said Mayor Kirk Caldwell. "As Honolulu grows and becomes denser, it is critical to provide people with safe, affordable alternatives for getting around. This investment in improved multimodal access supports many of our goals as a community, from sustainability and resilience to being a healthy, age-friendly city."

The bikeway proposals to be presented at the August 29 meeting includes the following:

• South King Street: An extension of the existing two-way protected bicycle lane along the mauka-side of the road, between Alapa‘i Street and Bishop Street;

• Punchbowl Street: Addition of bicycle facilities between Vineyard Boulevard and Ala Moana Boulevard, including:

• Sharrows between Vineyard Boulevard and South King Street.

• A two-way protected bicycle lane on the Diamond Head-side between South King Street and Pohukaina Street.

• A one-way protected bike lane (mauka-direction) and sharrows (makai-direction) between Pohukaina Street and Ala Moana Boulevard.

• Bishop Street: Addition of a two-way protected bicycle lane along the Diamond Head-side of the street between Beretania Street and Nimitz Highway.

The draft designs were informed by extensive community input gathered as part of the Urban Core Complete Streets and Downtown Chinatown Complete Streets projects in 2017 and 2018. The outreach completed for these two projects included more than 24 community meetings, 72 stakeholder meetings, and various other outreach platforms that have collectively gathered more than 1,600 public comments.

The proposed designs address the following desires and concerns expressed by community members:

• No reduction in on-street parking: The number of on-street parking stalls will remain the same along King Street and Bishop Street, and is being slightly increased on Punchbowl Street.

• No removal of loading zones: Loading zones were identified as a priority by downtown businesses and are being retained with the same hours and peak restrictions. A loading zone is also being added on King Street between Fort Street Mall and Bishop Street.

• Limited traffic delay impacts: The proposed designs include recommendations based on modeling to minimize impacts to traffic. Most of the delay caused by removing one lane of travel along each roadway can be offset by adjusting traffic signal timing, as well as through enforcement of existing parking and loading restrictions.

• Safer bicycle connections to key destinations: Results from a Complete Streets survey in 2017 indicated that networks of bicycle lanes would encourage 50 percent of people that do not bike now to take more trips by bike, helping to reduce traffic congestion on roads. The proposed bikeways will extend the King Street bike lane into downtown and make critical mauka-makai connections to destinations along these major roadways. Providing bicycle lanes also keeps bicycle riders off sidewalks, creating a safer walking environment.

• Dedicated bicycle signals at intersections: Signals at most intersections will be modified to include separate phases for bicyclists in the protected bike lanes. This will reduce the potential for conflicts between bicycles and cars at intersections.

Designs are expected to be completed for all three streets by the end of 2018, moving into construction in 2019. The draft concept designs will be posted online at www.honolulu.gov/completestreets/urbancore following the August 29 meeting. Public comments may also be e-mailed to completestreets@honolulu.gov from now through October 1.

For more information on the project, visit www.honolulu.gov/completestreets/urbancore, or contact Chris Sayers, Bicycle Coordinator, at csayers@honolulu.gov or (808) 768-8335.

--PAU--

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First Friday Hawaii News Item

Public meeting for bikeway projects in downtown Honolulu

First Friday Hawaii
News Item