At the beginning of the month, the City and County Department of Transportation Services gave a presentation at the McCully-Moiliili Neighborhood Board meeting concerning their plan to install bike lanes along McCully Street. (The minutes will be available here.) This is a plan that has been discussed for a while, going back at least to January. Most news stories highlighted the removal of parking spots, such as Hawaii News Now (“McCully Street to get bike lanes, lose parking“) or the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (“McCully Street bike lanes to eliminate up to 30 parking spots“) [You may notice in the Star-Advertiser URL that their original headline read “up to 80 parking spots”; the headline was corrected but not the sharable link.]
What’s unfortunate about these stories is that they missed an important aspect–that parking along McCully Street is unsafe and that the City and County would consider removing it whether or not bike lanes were added. To quote the Star-Advertiser article (quoting Mark Garrity, acting director of the Department of Transportation Services):
“They never should have allowed parking there. There just isn’t sufficient space,” Garrity said of that stretch of McCully Street. Each side of the road would need to be at least 17 feet wide to fit a lane of travel plus parking based on nationally recognized standards — but McCully is only 15 feet wide on either side, he said.
Apparently this car only feels safe parking along McCully St. if it takes away half the sidewalk from pedestrians.
As someone who also drives down McCully Street, I can say that I can’t imagine ever parking on the street. I’m nervous enough for my own car while driving in the right lane through the stretches where cars are parked. I certainly wouldn’t put my faith in other drivers’ skill/awareness. More likely I imagine I’d end up with a missing side mirror.
One of the City and County’s most visible bicycle infrastructure improvements, the King Street Protected Bike Lane, has been a big success. Personally I’ve encountered increasing numbers of cyclists along King Street, and I’ve had better interactions with vehicles turning across the bike lane as well. The increase in ridership is striking, especially considering that there aren’t any mauka/makai connections feeding into King Street. McCully Street will provide an important and useful access allowing cyclists from Waikiki to easily reach the King Street Protected Bike Lane.
The bike lane over the McCully St Bridge unceremoniously ends at Kapiolani Blvd.
As it stands now, McCully Street is already designated as a bike route, which I have never understood. There is a bike lane over the McCully Street Bridge, which unceremoniously ends at Kapiolani Boulevard. I guess the designation “bike route” means we get a sign? (However we don’t even warrant sharrows.) I consider myself an experienced cyclist/commuter, and I won’t ride mauka on McCully Street at most times of the day, mainly because of the poor transition from bike lane to traffic lane at Kapiolani. A designated bike lane will make this area much safer, and provider easier access to people who want to bicycle but don’t feel safe riding in the same lane as traffic.
Several days after these news stories came out, the Star-Advertiser published an editorial supporting the additional bike lanes (“Share road with more bike lanes“). It was heartwarming to read, and I hope a sign of changing times. Before his reelection, Mayor Caldwell had said that of all the issues facing the city and all the actions he’s taken during his first term, his work to improve the bicycling infrastructure has received the most push-back. However, in talking to people around town there are many who would like to bike but don’t feel safe. As more bike lanes and paths are added and as disjointed ones get connected, we’ll approach the minimum grid necessary to support a robust cycling population. The McCully Street bike lanes are an easy step in that direction.