Honolulu Weekly

For the supporters of a new bike path bill, the finish line is in sight. With a little luck, House Bill 2075 just might make it across. If that happens two percent of eligible federal funds would be earmarked for the creation of bikeways around the state. ‘It is making its second crossover from the Senate to the House. It’s going into conference committee right now,’ says Kristi Schulenberg, executive director of Hawaii Bicycle League (HBL), which has been working with the state Department of Transportation to get the bill passed. ‘We are hoping to work out a few more things in conference committee.’

And if the bill crosses the finish line, it won’t just be cyclists on O’ahu who will be winners. The money generated by the bill will go to fund Bike Plan Hawaii, the state’s massive plan to rework roadways for a bike-friendly future. According to Schulenberg, the promise that more funding will go to the bike plan, couldn’t have come at a better time. ‘The better and sooner this plan gets [going] in some sense, it will really provide opportunities for alternative forms of transportation and even take some cars off the road,’ Schulenberg says. ‘I’m not talking hundreds or thousands of cars like that. I’m saying that if the city and state wants to look at multi-modal modes of transportation then bicycling certainly needs to be a consideration in that.’

In addition to providing funding for the building of bikeways, it will also insure that the local cycling community will be consulted when it comes time for the state to decide which bike paths are priorities. Of particular importance for the league , Schulenberg says, is the completion of a Leeward bike path which would help connect ‘Ewa to the urban core. ‘There are many who would use this as an alternative form of transportation,’ she adds.

While the bill would fund bike paths, Schulenberg says that the intent of the bill is not to serve as the sole funding source for bike related roadwork. ‘Though it’s not in the bill, we asked that this two percent be above and beyond what they already do anyway,’ the bike supporter says, adding that repaving, restriping or shoulder work should not be paid for by this new funding source.

According to Schulenberg, the Lingle administration has ‘agreed to that. That’s not in the bill but in good faith at least with this administration they are committed to this.’

That’s all well and good, but what about the next administra-tion? Will they use these funds for work above and beyond what the state already does now? According to Schulenberg, the DOT has expressed doubts. ‘The DOT has pointed out that we could be harming ourselves, in that this administration is willing to spend more than two percent and is certainly doing so, where future administrations may say, ‘We’re only going to do two percent,” she says. ‘We’re willing to take that risk in the hopes that with the continued relationship and further organizing of the cycling community, we hope that we can put the kind of pressure on an administration to not always do just the minimum of two percent.’

For many, cycling on the streets of Honolulu is a scary proposition. Schulenberg believes a better funded bike plan would help ease fears. ‘Lots of people are traveling very short distances to get to work, to get to school, and cycling is not really an option because, one, it is not safe, and there is not an infrastructure to support that,’ the executive director says.

In order to make Honolulu safe for cyclists, the group attended the recent City Charter Commission meetings in an effort to get city officials to change the wording of the city charter. The league wants the charter to mention that it is a priority for the city to make Honolulu a more bike-friendly town by increasing the number of bike and pedestrian paths. ‘That’s the stepping stone that we are using for any ordinance revision that we would work through the city council,’ Schulenberg. ‘It’s kind of fundamental, at least to our strategy, that we can look to it as a foundation piece and say, ‘It’s in the charter–We believe at this time and in the future it’s important for Honolulu to be a bike and pedestrian friendly community.”