1. Several people in the past, and one recent candidate in a political forum, have questioned the cost per mile (I think they said mile) of the bike path compared to the cost per mile of fixing Kauai’s highways. Folks,
1. Several people in the past, and one recent candidate in a political forum, have questioned the cost per mile (I think they said mile) of the bike path compared to the cost per mile of fixing Kauai’s highways. Folks, you are talking apples and oranges. The cost of the bike path could only be compared to the cost of a brand new road. There is the cost of acquiring the land — negotiations with multiple land owners is difficult and costly. The initial roadbeds and the bed of the bike path is considerably more complex than the follow up repairs and maintenance. For example: Sewing an entire muumuu from scratch, buying the fabric, the thread, zippers, buttons and the sewing machine costs more than the needle and thread to sew the tear in the seam.
2. Several people want to take the money spent and use it somewhere “more important.” Sorry guys, but grants and federally earmarked dollars cannot be used on other projects. However, if you don’t want the bike path, I do.
I am waiting with baited breath for the Westside to get anything close to a bike path. When I came to Kauai — a lifetime ago — I walked from my home across from Davidson Beach in Kekaha to Waimea Post Office to get my mail every day.
Most of the walk was on the water’s edge down the beach as far as the Waimea landing where I headed inland. From the Post Office, I walked up Waimea Valley to visit my in-laws (the Apo family) before turning around and walking down the beach back home. For years, I walked. When my son Bernard was born (1965) we both walked, the first year I carried him on my shoulders. After that we found sea shells and chased sand crabs together while I explained the different things we found in the water and the sand. It was a great time for both of us.
When I am at my previous home in Connecticut, I still walk the four or five miles to the shopping center and back almost daily. My Connecticut hometown always had full sidewalks for as far back as I can remember. I bring my bag-lady shipping cart to the store and when it gets too full/heavy I pay the 60-cent senior rate and my cart and I take the bus home. Bus stops are plentiful in Connecticut.
Walking is still the best exercise and the easiest on the body of anything I know. I plan to live to be 110 and I will be walking and smiling until I die — in perfect health — doing something I love. Please give me a real bike path from Kekaha to Waimea. The three feet alongside the highway is downright dangerous. Give us a safe place to walk and ride our bicycles. Please.
•••
Sandra Makuaole is a Waimea resident.
