HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0209.003 2022-2024 P/ C. c
COMM,
Ron Terry
10 Hina Street
Hilo HI 96720
April 16, 2023
Comm. 2Requests a Discussion with the Administration Regarding
the Alignment of the State of ai`i Complete Streets Policy and the
County Of HawaN Street Design Manual from ucil Member Jennifer
Kagiwada, dated March , 2023
Chair Villegas and Members of Hawaii County Council Communications, Reports, and
Council Oversight Committee:
Thank you, Councilmember Kagiwada and committee members, for considering this
important topic. As a cyclist and board member of the non-profit Hilo Bayfront Trails,
Inc., I am vitally concerned with having complete streets design standards evaluated
and implemented as part of each road maintenance and rehabilitation project.
I want to first acknowledge the progress Hawaii County DPW has made in listening to
community input after projects are planned and underway. They incorporated several
substantive speed table, signage and striping improvements on Haili Street,
Waianuenue Avenue, Punahele Street and other roadways. They are also considering
some suggestions provided by Hilo Bayfront Trails Inc. for Keawe Street.
However, that is so late in the process! It still appears that County roadway project
planning and design starts out with a perhaps unconscious bias towards motor vehicle
traffic. Complete streets then becomes a bit of an afterthought. We were told at a recent
public meeting concerning the Kilauea Avenue/Keawe Street Rehabilitation Project that
because of the federal funds involved, the project is required to rebuild exactly what is
currently existing, and no additional safety features such as curb extensions or speed
tables or similar safety features could be funded. Therefore, these features were not
considering for adding on.
This was particularly disheartening because Keawe Street (along with Kinoole Street,
one block away) has been identified as having safety deficiencies that have led to
pedestrian and bicycle accidents and at least one death. Downtown merchants tell us
they witness minor bumps and close calls on a regular basis. For this among other
reasons, the Downtown Hilo Multimodal Master Plan was prepared by the Planning
Department, with the help of SSFM International Inc. Public involvement on the Plan
was robust and its recommendations were welcomed by downtown businesses,
pedestrian and bike advocates, and County agencies. The Plan was accepted by the
County Council in 2018. The Plan explicitly calls for safety features on Keawe Street.
The public has assumed since 2018 that as road improvements are sequentially
proposed, designed and funded, the safety features called for in the Plan would be
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constructed. When we heard that Keawe Street Rehabilitation project was at last j
underway, we assumed that these features would be included. It seems somewhat
absurd that the State and federal government can only replace unsafe designs and
cannot incorporate modern safety features in the rehabilitation projects it funds,
regardless of them being needed, mandated in local plans, and relatively inexpensive.
But if the State and federal governments won't help on this, we still need to incorporate
complete streets improvements, even if it is on the County dime.
This type of situation is where an adopted Street Design Manual like those completed in
2018 for the Counties of Kauai and Maui and the City and County of Honolulu would be
very useful. Each of these is readily available online, unlike the one for Hawaii County.
We need to move forward with this so that the manual is available to the public and
actively considered each time a road project is designed.
Sincerely,