KAPAA — Driving in Kauai is a challenge, that’s no secret — and the county’s transportation department wants to hear your ideas for solutions in a series of open-house meetings it’s holding this week. “It’s that bottleneck near Safeway that
KAPAA — Driving in Kauai is a challenge, that’s no secret — and the county’s transportation department wants to hear your ideas for solutions in a series of open-house meetings it’s holding this week.
“It’s that bottleneck near Safeway that creates so much traffic here in Kapaa,” said Julian Ruppert, owner of Bamboo Works in Kapaa. “I hear people complain about the traffic all the time. That’d be a good place to start if you’re trying to cut down on traffic.”
Tracy Farwell of Wailua said she’d like to see the portion of Kuhio Highway that runs through Kapaa Town closed to vehicles altogether.
“We should turn this highway into a walking street and send all the traffic out to that street just behind the highway,” Farwell said. “Then we could put umbrellas up and maybe some grass, then people could hang out and spend time in the shops and businesses around here.”
The shuttle system, however, is the focus of a new solution that the transportation department is debuting.
The meetings are part of the Kauai North Shore and South Shore Transit Feasibility Study that takes a look at issues and solutions to traffic on Kauai’s North Shore, South Shore and Eastside.
“We really want to present what our overall strategy is and get input from the public,” said Lee Steinmetz, Kauai County transportation planner. “We want to know if we are on the right track and get a lot of input from the community. “
The first open house will be held on Tuesday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center. Another meeting will be at the Kapaa Neighborhood Center from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, and the final meeting will be on Thursday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Koloa Neighborhood Center.
Steinmetz said the department is focusing on the areas of the island where there are chronic traffic issues.
On the North Shore, the department is concentrating on the problems of parking and congestion near Ke’e Beach.
“Also, Haena State Park is working on a master plan that may restrict parking at the end of the road,” Steinmetz said. “As a county, we’re looking at how to address that (parking and congestion) problem now and in the future.”
The department’s concept for the North Shore is a shuttle from the Kilauea lighthouse to Ke’e Beach.
“That would service both areas, and the points in between,” Steinmetz said. “It would work for both visitors and employees that, for instance, live in Haena and want to get to Princeville for work.”
Congestion is the main problem for traffic on the island’s Eastside, and Steinmetz said the idea for that area is to reconfigure the existing shuttle plans from areas like Wailua to better connect to the mainline service.
“On the South Shore we have issues in the Poipu resort area and we hear from the resort industry, that people want to get around without having to rent a car,” Steinmetz said. “How can we reduce parking and better serve our visitors and get our employees to where they work?”
The concept for the South Shore is to split the existing shuttle route into two different routes. One would go from Kalaheo to Lihue, through Koloa. The other would go from Koloa to Poipu.
“Each of those areas has different potential solutions that we’re looking at,” Steinmetz said, “and we are also suggesting improvements to the mainline service to help better link these shuttles to the mainline.”
These upcoming meetings are the second round of meetings that the transportation department has had concerning the shuttle concepts for the island. According to Steinmetz, the department has met with various community groups to get a sense of the ongoing transportation issues.
“The first meetings were about listening and hearing people’s concerns,” Steinmetz said. “Now, these meetings are about presenting some conceptual solutions and for people to tell us if we’re on the right track.”
Once it’s been established that the public is on board with the transportation department’s plan, Steinmetz said the next steps will be to develop more detailed schedules, as well as a finance plan and an operations plan with details on how to implement the concepts.
“First, though, we want to see how people like our concepts and get feedback from the community,” Steinmetz said.
For those who are unable to attend one of the three open houses, a survey is available online at www.kauaishuttlestudy.com, where folks can weigh in on the county’s ideas for shuttle system improvements.
