Shared Streets pilot project coming to McCully

The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services will pilot Shared Streets and “quick-build” strategies in the McCully neighborhood starting May 1, 2021. These strategies will explore a new way of expanding a network of safe and comfortable streets for people walking and biking in Urban Honolulu. This project is being supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies and its partners, as a part of the City’s participation in the American Cities Climate Challenge.

Shared streets opens the roadway to everyone by discouraging cut-through traffic and slowing driving speeds using temporary traffic control materials. People are allowed to use the entire roadway space to walk, bike, and roll on Shared Streets. Motorists should drive at walking speed when people are on the street.

“We serve many keiki who walk to the Club every day after school, and we want to make sure they can get here safely,” says Brianne Villarosa, the Clubhouse Director of the Boys and Girls Club Hawai‘i Spalding Honolulu Clubhouse. “There are no sidewalks and cars are also often parked on the grass curbs. The Shared Streets project will help make conditions safer. We hope this project will remind drivers to slow down and look out for people walking and biking in the street–especially keiki.”

This Shared Streets pilot will be set up for approximately 60 days from May through June 2021, and will include Hau‘oli Street from South King Street to Kapi‘olani Boulevard, and Waiola Street from Kalākaua Avenue to Old Stadium Park. A pop-up bike/walk lane will also be installed along the Diamond Head-side of Hau‘oli Street. The selected streets create low-stress connections across and through the McCully neighborhood to key destinations and existing bike facilities, such as the King Street protected bikeway and Ala Wai bike path.

“Shared Streets are an opportunity to create safe places to walk for our kupuna,” says Carl Takamura, a long-time resident of McCully and a member of the AARP Hawai‘i Executive Council. “Our kupuna are some of the most vulnerable people on our streets; they are pedestrians and bus riders who depend on safe places to stay active. McCully Shared Streets will provide more space for our kupuna to walk in comfort, safety, and confidence.”

To learn more about McCully Shared Streets and to provide feedback, visit: www.honolulu.gov/completestreets/university.

The City encourages people to share the road, and travel safely and with aloha for all users.