Bike lane ‘no-man’s-land’ to get second look

A task force is taking on a troublesome bike lane design on Queen Kaahumanu Highway where it passes through Kailua-Kona.

A group of cyclists, state Department of Transportation officials, police and county representatives are meeting today to begin hashing out ways to make the highway safer from Makala Boulevard to Henry Street.

A cycling and pedestrian advocacy group and the Hawaii Cycling Club are expected to float a design that places bike lanes on the far right side of the highway. Responding to recent fatal auto-bike accidents and near-misses on that stretch of highway, DOT officials last fall did away with auto acceleration lanes that caused bike lanes to be sandwiched between lines of traffic.

The restriping project last fall forces drivers merging right onto Queen Kaahumanu to yield, then accelerate out into traffic.

But tweaking the flow of traffic in this way only makes the highway harder to navigate for drivers while failing to improve bicycle safety, many motorists and cyclists have argued. The changes confused drivers and caused them to drive over striped, off-limits area, and left bike lanes sandwiched at exit lanes, some said.

“I don’t ride through town on Queen Kaahumanu Highway now, and don’t recommend it to anyone I know who cycles,” said Daniel Hodel, president of the Hawaii Cycling Club, on Thursday.

Hodel said the plan being put forth by cyclists moves the bike lanes to the far right except at intersections, a design consistent with bikeways further north on the highway.

“It gives back some of that asphalt that’s been turned into a no-man’s-land,” Hodel said. “It was nice for motorists to have that lane to accelerate and merge, and I think we can give a large amount of that back.”

Tina Clothier, executive director of Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii, concurred on the design.

“It puts the bike lanes where the cyclists expect them to be and where the motorists expect them to be,” she said.

“I believe we’re all going in with the same intent to come up with a design that makes Queen Kaahumanu safer for all users,” she added.

A House resolution sponsored by Kailua-Kona Rep. Nicole Lowen called on the state Department of Transportation to form the working group. The resolution passed and was adopted this past session.

“The unanimous response from bikers and motorists has been that what they did made the problem worse, not better,” Lowen said. “I’m hoping the working group will get everyone together to brainstorm and come up with a better solution.”

Lowen said it’s doubtful that everyone will agree on the final design.

“But we can definitely do better than what’s there now,” she said.