Local officials gave brief remarks about how the community and government worked together to get this project finished.

This evening, a number of local organizations gathered in Kaimuki to celebrate the new Waialae Avenue bike lane.  This is a project that’s been years in the making, and one that makes the ride between Manoa and Kaimuki much safer.  A number of local organizations and officials gave brief remarks, but the best and most stirring were from Mayor Caldwell.  He talked about the efforts of the cycling community–such as those of us at the gathering–to help push this through, and how they’ll need our help to keep going with future projects.  The King Street Cycle Track is already under construction, and the best thing we can to do help future projects is to ride.  Motorists aren’t going to like losing car lanes to add bike lanes, and it’ll be that much harder to push through future projects if the current ones aren’t used.

Cyclists gathering before the official inauguration of the new Wailalae Avenue bike lane.

This is something that we’ve already thought about.  Once the King Street Cycle Track opens, my plan is to take a jaunt down it every day after work.  It’ll be a couple extra miles, which will make my sub-3 mile commute a little more worthwhile in terms of exercise, and will help show that people are using it.  In the Mayor’s vision, eventually we’ll hit a tipping point with enough protected bike lanes connecting to enough locations that people will find it better to ride than to drive.  We’re certainly looking forward to that day!

A poor attempt at a panorama of the group of cyclists and local officials gathered to celebrate the completion of the Waialae Avenue bike lane.