A proposal before the Honolulu City Council about neighborhood parking is the missing piece needed to allay one of the biggest concerns about a proposed pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the Ala Wai canal.

While it has been proposed in various fashions in the past, the Ala Pono project is now being put forward again through the City and County’s Completes Streets program.  To some it’s an obvious need and glaring oversight:  build a bridge across the Ala Wai canal that provides access to the middle of Waikiki, not just from the edges.  This could trim a student’s walking commute by 20 minutes.  From a public safety standpoint, it would also provide a faster evacuation route in an emergency and an alternate access point for first responders (based on structure/design).  However, in past meetings, many Moiliili residents were against it because of concerns about people traveling to Waikiki taking up parking in their neighborhood.  This time around, enter Bill 70(2018) (proposed text), introduced by Councilmember Carol Fukunaga.

The bill in question is a follow-on to a Restricted Parking Zone pilot project in Kalihi last year that limited parking for more than one hour to vehicles with a residential permit between 6 pm and 6 am. Neighborhood residents considered the experiment a great success and the City and County made it permanent.  The proposed bill allows neighborhoods to petition the Department of Transportation Services to designate a restricted parking zone, and provides limits and requirements for such designations.  It’s not often that Councilmember Fukunaga’s proposals align with Complete Streets, but this type of RPZ is just what Moiliili would need to mitigate any traffic impacts from a bridge over the Ala Wai.

Monday evening community engagement meeting. Pictured: Mayor Caldwell. Not pictured: us. (Photo credit: Bob Ballard,)

While we didn’t attend the recent community meetings, we’re extremely hopeful based on reports from the Star-Advertiser about the Saturday afternoon one (“Proposed Ala Wai bridge wins support at meeting“) and from my coworker about the Monday evening one (“[Y]ou would have shed tears of joy at last night’s Ala Pono meeting./We were extremely pleased at the level of excitement over the bridge idea.”)  In the meantime, you can find more information through the City and County’s project website and submit comments to the project manager at nicola.szibbo@honolulu.gov.