A bike path to Wailea Makena along the North/South Collector Corridor is our best chance to make South Maui bicycle friendly and safe

 

South Maui needs a bike path


reprinted courtesy Maui News 4/24/10

by Maury King


Viewpoint:  South Maui needs bike path


The South Maui Bicycle Coalition wants the county to know how important we think the bike path along the North/South Collector Corridor is for Kihei. We hope that the mayor and the County Council heard the community testify at the budget hearings. I personally noticed council members taking notes when people spoke on this item.

Lahaina has a great biking situation with full bike racks every few yards and, due to different traffic conditions on Front Street than in Kihei, bicyclists can easily mix with the traffic because it is much slower than on South Kihei Road. The Paia area and the North Shore Bikeway are getting a lot of attention and have seen buildout of bike paths. South Maui has been left out of this mix even though for many years our plans have been in place and approved.

A bike path along the North/South Collector Corridor is our best chance to make South Maui bicycle friendly and safe, and to change and improve the complexion of the community. This is also a great way to help kids get to school and there is even a federal "Safe Routes to School" program that might have funding available. Almost every school in South Maui is adjacent to this path.

For years, the bike path has been tied to the building of a road to go alongside it. It is time to separate the bike path from the road and act on building a bike path. It doesn't have to be an expensive, fancy project. Let's try to find a way to make the dirt surface fairly level - maybe it needs a coating of some kind to keep dust down - and a couple of small bridges over gulches, which would be too dangerous to ride through, especially after rain.

The community is already making use of sections of this path for walking and biking. We are hoping that the county can see this as an important step toward supporting children riding to school, sustainability and our health and sense of community in South Maui.

* Maury King (808) 874-5955 is a member of the South Maui Bicycle Coalition. He lives in Kihei.

reprinted courtesy Maui News 4/24/10, original link http:// mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/530842.html?nav=18

 

brought to you by Wailea Makena Real Estate Inc.

www.Wailea-Makena-real-estate.com

 

 

Peter Gelsey R (PB)

Wailea Makena Real Estate, Inc.

www.petergelsey.com

direct (808)  344-8000

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