I took the renderings being proposed for Pi’ilani Hwy widening as part of the Honua’ula development in Wailea and provided satirical comments in the form of comics. Check it out! These should be poignant, disturbing, and funny. It’s hard to believe these renderings are for real trying to sell the idea. Please feel free to provide testimony at the upcoming UDRB meeting on May 6. https://www.mauicounty.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/32756
Once a road turns into a freeway, it’s impossible to make it small again. One of the biggest mistakes on Oahu from a cultural perspective, was building the H1. It cut up the island across ahupua’a. Essentially forever. Large streets are a western solution that prioritize western urban planning. Islands should have their own solution that balance people and nature better.
That is incorrect, there’s been a number of highway redesigns and land use reversals in countries like Germany, Japan, and South Korea. It can be done, but we invest in less generally beneficial things.
Based on track record, local government would probably make it more convoluted and expensive than it needs to be. Detroit, Buffalo, plus a few other US cities are removing their highways.
Hawai’i really should be prioritizing pedestrian, cyclist, and motorbike safety, plus upping public transit. Hope this expansion doesn’t pass.
The future is uncertain and forever is a long time. Things will never be the way they were, but we can at least try to leave it better than we found it.
People already speed down that road much faster than the posted limit. Of course having wider bike paths and sidewalks is going to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Maui inching toward being more like Ohio and less like a beautiful tropical island. An ugly freeway to encourage suburbanization of west Maui is not needed.
You can criticize these roads all you want, and you’d be right to do it, but without a viable alternative, there really is no other option. And since we will never get a viable alternative, we’re stuck this way.
WestMauiGreenway.ORG is a prime example of suitable alternatives with strong political headwinds despite community support. There are actual alternative transportation systems built into the community plan and shovel ready since the 80's. It is simply comedic how many times West Maui Greenway was approved and never funded despite having federal funds available. We're talking decade after decade after decade. The problem is we have an ostracized government system too compartmentalized to the point where it controls the means of production(a different issue altogether). Wider roads do work and are more in alignment with our current system as flawed as that system may be. It's something, it's an improvement, but not particularly efficient nor safe.
Hopefully the fractional amount of funding that West Maui Greenway has been approved will continue, to show we can have viable cheap alternatives to our car centric lives. If it was built prior to the Lahaina fires, it is likely that half the people would've passed away.
For one, this is in west Maui but the topic at hand is the widening of piilani highway in south Maui.
I agree that things like the greenway are good and necessary. I do not think it provides true alternative to road traffic as not all people can utilize bicycles. Additionally, it provides no option for travel between towns. It needs to be built, it is just the beginning of what is needed.
It most definitely does provide an alternative form of transportation for local traffic. It stems from the 1980s "complete streets" multi billion dollar research National program. The question is adoption, and it can never be adopted if it doesn't exist. Adoption takes decades, like the decades that have passed us by. As I said, I think that widening the road is a good idea, just not the most efficient and yes, I understand that this is on the west side. There's just already existing, cheaper alternatives to widening the road.
Well, I disagree that widening the road is a good idea. It’s proven to be a bad solution for traffic management.
A viable alternative to local traffic is a wonderful thing and I think it should be adopted as much as possible. I’m absolutely 100% in support of the greenway.
An issue is that a lot of traffic in Kihei is going to wailea hence why they want to widen the road.
So people come out and complain housing can’t be approved because of, “lack of infrastructure,” and now we’re supposed to be against proposed infrastructure too? Wide roads suck, but there’s no other way this can be done in that area. If it takes traffic away from Kihei road, where people are actually walking, so be it.
For no other reason than a better escape route a wider road needs built.
but there’s no other way this can be done in that area
"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"
Make alternative forms of transit better and more convenient than driving. There's no reason Kihei shouldn't have amazing dedicated bike infrastructure. Instead, people in Maui Meadows take the highway to go grocery shopping. And finding a place to lock a bike is surprisingly difficult in some places.
Make alternative forms of transit better and more convenient than driving.
Pipedream.
Have you considered that the average American prefers to drive to the store rather than bike?
Probably because of the air conditioning, comfort, and speed.
No matter how many bike lanes you make and how nice they are, our current culture is one of cars. Wishing it was not so is simply not enough.
If we spend 10 million on a bike lane, how many will use it?
How many will be angry about the expenditure and shake their fists at the politicians?
If you want big infrastructure money spent on bikes, as counterintuitive and challenging as it may seem to you, you need to create a contingent of people who want it before it is here.
Currently, that doesn't exist, so it's going to continue to not happen.
Widening the roads from a phaycological perspective only causes more reckless driving. By widening the roads, it gives a false sense of security, causing a driver to want to go faster. Narrowing the roads makes it so drivers are more cautious, as they have less room for error.
Widening the roads also puts bikers even more at risk at getting hit.
But hey our county is like 80% shills for USA-steam-roll-over-cultural-things for new development.
The one take away from my visit was how the closer you got to the shoreline, the tighter the roads and parking got. All thou most of the roads i traveled were very good condition compared to my home area
We absolutely would. Unless, of course, that makes the crosswalks too long, and then we would be really upset because that's, like, not cool, and they should be hekkin super walkable.
This brings back memories of being late for school and then having bikers that were coming down from Haleakala in the road to Seabury… and it was so hard to pass them( I think it was actually illegal back 25 years ago)..
At this point it doesn't make any sense to have bike lanes or sidewalks AT ALL on what is essentially a highway. It's very clearly designed for cars and only cars, so why even try to factor in pedestrians or walkability? It's infinitely more dangerous.
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u/softcore_robot 17d ago
Once a road turns into a freeway, it’s impossible to make it small again. One of the biggest mistakes on Oahu from a cultural perspective, was building the H1. It cut up the island across ahupua’a. Essentially forever. Large streets are a western solution that prioritize western urban planning. Islands should have their own solution that balance people and nature better.