Join the Kalihi community to celebrate the new and drastically improved Kamehameha IV Road!

They’ll be music, food, fun, and of course, a ride! This is an all ages event and HBL’s BikeEd team will be out in full force with a bike rodeo.  So bike up, bring your family and friends and enjoy the festivities.

 

The Kamehameha IV Road story:

Kamehameha IV Rd was a four-lane road with constant speeding issues (even though it has a police station right on it!), dangerous crosswalks and no place for bicycling – all while having an elementary school, a middle school, a district park, and KVIBE right on it.

HBL worked with Kokua Kalihi Valley, KVIBE, Kaewai Elementary, Dole Middle, Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, and many others to advocate for a Complete Streets transformation of the road. Based on the strong support, the Caldwell administration decidedly to re-think the planned repaving of the road and to transform it from the 2 lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction, a center turn lane, and bike lanes. This approach referred as “right sizing” makes room for cyclists and means a dramatically safer road for all (studies have found an average 29% reduction in injuries). It’s been in place since February and so far the road is working great. The most common comment on the change is “I can’t believe how much easier it is to cross the road now! People actually stop when you step out in the crosswalk!”

This is a true case of community advocacy in action. Please come out to celebrate the victory for safer streets.

The City will be holding a public meeting on long-discussed safety improvements to the Kalapawai Market intersection. The City’s current plan is to implement an interim roundabout (shown in the flyer) and later to convert to a full and permanent roundabout. The project should tremendous safety benefits those walking, bicycling, and driving, as supported by national studies that have found that roundabouts reduce fatalities and serious injuries by around 80% (link to source) If you live in or care about the area please come to show your support for this Complete Streets safety improvement. 

We’ve got Peter Koonce and Dongho Chang visiting from two of the best bike cities – Portland and Seattle. The two traffic engineers played a big a role in making the cities what they are today and are working to make them even more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. They’ll be sharing Seattle and Portland’s Complete Streets experiences, successes, and challenges. Mark Garrity from the Honolulu Department of Transportation Service will cap the conversation by talking about what the City is doing and how we can put into practice the great things Seattle and Portland are doing. HBL’s Advocacy Director, Daniel Alexander will be facilitated the talk.

Thursday 4/14 6-8p @ Kakaako Agora (441 Cooke St)

The talk will start promptly at 6:30pm. Arrive at 6 to hang out with fellow Complete Streets lovers and enjoy some light snacks and refreshment (free).

Parking – Ride a bike! They’ll be ample bike parking. If you’re in a car, street parking is available in the neighborhood or there is a large parking garage at 860 Halekauwila St.

Volunteer – Arrive early to help set-up, stay late to help break down, table to talk up HBL during the 6-6:30 hang out time. The sky is the limit!  Contact daniel@hbl.org if you’re down to help.

Special Thanks – This event wouldn’t be possible without the Hawaii Department of Health and Hawaii Public Health Institute, who funded Dongho and Peter’s working trip to Honolulu and graciously offered their time for this event.

More on the Portland & Seattle Complete Streets champions (the speakers!)

Peter Koonce, P.E., is from Portland, OR and has worked as a transportation professional for 20 years as a practitioner, consultant, researcher, and advocate. He serves as an adjunct professor at Portland State University, is a member of the Bicycle Technical Committee of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and also as Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Traffic Signal Systems. In his free time, he’s a Board Member of Oregon’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance.

Dongho Chang is the City Traffic Engineer for Seattle, WA. He has worked over 24 years in the transportation engineering field focused on improving safety and mobility for all travel modes. Dongho has worked as the Traffic Engineer for City of Everett and Area Engineer for Washington State Department of Transportation where he was responsible for traffic signals group, traffic analysis and channelization review, and traffic safety program. Dongho is active with Institute of Transportation Engineers and NACTO. Dongho drove a Zamboni during high school, which he considers as his “coolest” job ever!