Aloha, Senator’s Nishihara and Harimoto

The Maui Bicycling League, a chapter of the Hawaii Bicycling League, strongly supports the Complete Streets bill, SB1044. Passage of this bill will build upon and strengthen the existing 2009 Complete Streets law. It will also require the Hawaii Department of Transportation to design, build, and maintain roads for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders.

The streets of our cities & towns on Maui are an important part of our communities. They allow children to get to school & parents to get to work. They bring together neighbors & draw visitors to neighborhood stores. These streets ought to be designed for everyone – whether young or old, on foot or on bicycle, in a car or in a bus – but too often they are designed only for speeding cars or creeping traffic jams.

 Incomplete streets – those designed with only cars in mind as in Maui– limit transportation choices by making walking, bicycling, & taking public transportation inconvenient, unattractive, &, too often, dangerous. These roadways often lack sidewalks, crosswalks, & space for people to safely ride bicycles. Roads often make no room for public transportation vehicles & riders & few accommodations for people with disabilities.

 Americans want mobility.

Recent opinion polls found that 66% of Americans want more transportation options & the freedom to choose how to get where they need to go. Yet 73% feel they have no choice but to drive as much as they do. This is no surprise, as about one-quarter of walking trips take place on roads without sidewalks or shoulder, & bike lanes are available for only about 5% of bicycle trips. Changing policy so that our transportation system routinely includes the needs of people on foot, public transportation, & bicycles means that people of all ages & abilities will have more options when traveling to work, to school, to the grocery store, & to visit family.

Complete Streets foster strong communities.

Complete streets play an important role in livable communities, where all people – regardless of age, ability or mode of transportation – feel safe & welcome on the roadways. Complete streets provide benefits to the community in many ways, by improving public health, lowering transportation costs for families, encouraging local business, increasing capacity, & improving mobility for all.

There is a growing movement on the island of Maui—and the other islands—to replace short trips made by vehicles with walking and bicycling. People want to get out of their cars; however, our island currently lacks safe roadways to do this. Both cyclists and pedestrians on Maui are unfortunately all too familiar with the unsafe roadways on our island. The death of Maui cyclist Karl Hagen in April 2014 and the other pedestrian and cyclist fatalities and injuries last year are frightening and very real reminders of the need for Complete Streets on Maui.

Maui has one dedicated pathway that parallels the Mokulele Highway and almost connects Kahului with Kihei—the pathway stops before reaching the center of either city, thus requiring bicyclists and pedestrians to walk or ride on sometimes narrow shoulders next to arterial roadways under the jurisdiction of HDOT. In other areas of the island: Lahaina and Paia, cyclists and pedestrians—for efficient transit—must travel along the Honoapiilani Highway and Hana Highway, respectively. Both are state highways with fast moving cars. The Complete Streets bill will ensure that when improvements are made on these corridors, consideration for the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists will be given.

Passage of this bill will make the original Complete Streets law stronger and ultimately provide safer state roadways for all users.