Speak up for trails, pathway funding

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Key Vote Next Week – Contact your Representative TODAY
Transportation Committee votes on bicycling and walking funding next week
 
Next Thursday, February 2, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee will vote on the House transportation bill, which will eliminate crucial funds for bicycling and walking.
 
Because your state is represented on the Transportation Committee, you are in a key position to influence this vote and to save dedicated funding for bicycling and walking.  Will you contact your Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives today and ask them to vote to preserve bicycling and walking?
 
   Take Action button   
 
The House transportation bill, called the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, is expected to eliminate the two largest programs that fund bicycling and walking infrastructure—Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. Without these programs, communities all over the country will lose resources to build the sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways that make bicycling and walking safe and accessible in your community.
 
We can’t let that happen.
 
That’s why we’re working to introduce an amendment that will preserve funding for bicycling and walking. During next Thursday’s vote, your state’s representatives could be the key to making sure that this amendment passes in the Transportation Committee. Please contact them today to ask that they vote to preserve funding for bicycling and walking in the transportation bill.
 
Tell them:

  • Bicycling and walking make up 12 percent of all trips, but only 1.5 percent of federal funding.
  • One-quarter of children’s traffic deaths happen when they are walking or bicycling and are struck by cars.  Safe Routes to School funds help ensure funding for critical sidewalks, crosswalks and safety infrastructure to protect children and prevent unnecessary deaths.
  • When town centers are bicycling and walking friendly, business and economic development improves. 

 Take Action button
 
Thank you for all that you do to keep bicycling and walking safe and accessible.

Highway 130 Informational Meeting Dec. 1st

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PRESS RELEASE
November 19th 2011

SENATOR GILBERT KAHELE ANNOUNCES DOT UPDATE IN PUNA

Hawai’i Island’s District 2 State Senator Gilbert Kahele is hosting a Highway 130 update in Puna on December 1st 2011.

Building upon the recently completed DOT forum held in September, Hawai’i Island’s District 2 State Senator is using this forum to specifically address all State Highway 130 projects in Puna and to help clarify some of the issues that were addressed in September at the DOT Town Hall held in Keaau. Sal Panem, Hawai’i Island’s District Engineer will be the featured speaker and is expected to give a comprehensive report on Highway 130 and all transportation projects associated with the Puna Highway. Mr. Panem will also give a a current status update and time line for both short term and long term projects.

“Highway 130 is my #1 priority in Puna. The feedback I received from the Transportation Town Hall I hosted in September was that those that attended felt not enough time was spent on Highway 130 and the information that was provided was not clear and concise. Several members of the community who have spent a significant amount of time on Highway 130 said they felt confused and unsure of the projects time line and specific details. I discussed this with the State DOT directors and we were all in agreement that we should go back to Puna and provide a presentation focused exclusively on Highway 130, and we are doing just that. We have decided to go into the heart of Puna and host this forum at the Pahoa Neighborhood Facility on December 1st. My one request is that the community come out and attend this important meeting and we get as much participation and attendance from the forty thousand plus residents of the Puna District. Tell your family, friends, neighbors and community associations, if Highway 130 is important to you come out and attend this meeting, I am providing you, my constituents of Puna the opportunity to be heard, I hope to see you there” Senator Gil Kahele

Senator Kahele’s Highway 130 update with
Hawai’i DOT District Engineer Sal Panem

PUNA

PAHOA NEIGHBORHOOD FACILITY

December 1st 2011, 6:00-8:00PM

TRAINING ON PARKING: BUFFERS, BIKES & CARS

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PATH TO HOST TRAINING ON HOW TO BUILD SAFE BIKEWAYS WITH CAR PARKING

Satisfying parking for cards as well as creating safe bicycle pathways may sound like an impossible conflict, but innovative solutions from communities across the country have shown that both parking and bicycle infrastructure can coexist and even provide additional safety measures for both road users. The non-profit Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii (PATH) will host a webinar on these techniques on Wednesday, November 16th from 10am to 11am at the Waimea PATH office located at the historic Waimea Civic Corner at 67-1201 Mamalahoa Highway in Waimea. To RSVP, please email education@pathhawaii.org or call 326-7284 (326-PATH).

MORE INFORMATION ON THE WEBINAR

APBP Professional Development Webinar Series

Parking: Buffers, Bikes and Cars

Wednesday, November 16 • 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Register here: http://www.apbp.org/event/Nov-11_webinar

On-street parking is a significant issue for urban bike lane design; it has thus far not proven feasible to reduce large quantities of on-street parking to create high quality bicycle infrastructure. This discussion will be relevant for professionals struggling with how to create bicycle infrastructure that is as comfortable and safe as possible within constrained environments where it is politically impractical to reduce parking. This webinar will provide you with simple, practical solutions to reduce conflicts between parked cars and on-street bicycle facilities. You will learn how to apply low cost solutions that are mindful of federal guidance but also capitalize on the latest advances in the U.S. and elsewhere. Solutions discussed in this webinar will address engineering liability concerns and consider maintenance impacts (cost and manpower). Many agencies are supportive of these concepts in theory but struggle to get past these two issues. Specific discussion will focus on:

  • Buffered bike lanes, parallel lines, cycle tracks, door zone markings, facility dimensions, color, signs, educational/marketing efforts
  • How the MUTCD and AASHTO apply to the various treatments
  • The state of the practice in the U.S. and around the world
  • The state of the research for each treatment
  • Identifying when and where it may be appropriate to deploy particular treatments.

The presenter is Bill Schultheiss, PE, Senior Engineer, Toole Design Group. Bill has more than a decade of experience on high quality engineering and design for a range of projects including bicycle master plans for the cities of Seattle, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.; pedestrian and bicycle design guidelines for state and local governments; and site specific solutions for urban, suburban and rural design challenges. He is a member of the Bicycle Technical Committee of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. He holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The AICP has approved one Certification Maintenance credit for this webinar. APBP will provide letters certifying attendance to those who document their professional development hours. Each site license includes one phone connection (toll charges apply, or use VoIP), one Internet connection, one set of handouts for unlimited attendees in the same location, and access to the recording. (You may be required to download free software from Citrix GoToMeeting in order to participate in the webinar.) APBP accepts Visa, MasterCard or AMEX; payment should be made by noon on November 15. For more information, contact Debra Goeks (262-228-7025 or info@apbp.org)

Comments on Hawaii Volcanoes National Park General Management Plan Update

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Suggested Comments on Volcanoes National Park Transportation Alternatives, Kahuku Section. Mahalo to Ed Johnson for preparing these comments.

Send your comments to: Cindy Orlando, PO Box 52, Hawaii National Park, HI 96718

 •  The alternatives listed for transportation within Kahuku seem to be outdated, in view of everything we know about transportation alternatives, global climate change, and sensitive resources.

•  Decision-making criteria are extremely simple in principle:  any use of fossil fuel burning vehicles needs to be severely limited or substitutes found therefore, and all other forms of transportation are preferable:  electric shuttle vans for the disabled, tourists, and weekenders; walking, bicycling, and horseback are preferences in all cases. 

•  If there are conflicts, most of them can be eliminated, through choice of the non-fossil fuel alternatives.  This benefits the park & the native resources in the short run & the long run, & the human visitors in the short run & the long run.

•  Biking on established roads & trails in principle is wide open.  The same applies to pedestrians:  on existing roads & trails, walking should be wide open.  If you can get there and take nothing but photos, & leave nothing but tracks, everyone & everything wins.

•  The further and higher one gets, the more valuable the resources become, and the more careful you are to keep it that way.  This can be reinforced by volunteer groups to maintain pristine areas, to remove any refuse, prevent erosion, retard any invasive plants, and so on.

•  Equestrian access is a little more difficult to decide, although the lower reaches would seem to be ok for horsebacking, with minimal conflicts for multiple use.  Higher up, horsebackers may need some of their own trails, with which most biker & hiking groups would happily cooperate.

•  Private, personal vehicles need to be limited to special weekends, again just like the Park first did when they “didn’t know what they were doing.” There probably needs to be a cap on the number, since the planners can use existing formulas to compute numbers which will jointly minimize traffic jams, accidents, conflicts, oil/gas/fluid drippings and other problems of dangerous, toxic, and high-climate-change-impact fossil fuel use.

•  Commercial use.  This is a national park, not Disneyland.  So the designation of commercial use has to respect the sensitive, unique, and non-replaceable characteristics of the resources at each decision point.  There is no problem in principle, with ranger-led or commercially guided tours with clear and strict rules protecting the resources and others’ rights to use them too.

•  Shuttles.  Hybrid or electric vans can make runs on certain weekends for locals and others who are in no way interested in any commercial applications, but just want to get up high and get some quality recreation time in before they have to go back to the crowding and traffic jams of lower reach living and working.  In fact, shuttles will be a keystone of access, along with wide open bicycling and walking.

PATH Education Instructor Training

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PATH is calling for Bike and Ped Ed Instructors to be a part of our professional training team.  We will be conducting training sessions this Fall. If you are passionate about health and safety and enjoy working with kids, please consider joining our team!

East Hawaii Instructor Training -  WEDNESDAY October 12th, Location To Be Announced, 8:30am – 12noon (Bike Ed) and  1pm to 4:30pm (Ped Ed)

West Hawaii Instructor Training – FRIDAY October 14th, PATH Headquarters , 8:30am – 12noon (Bike Ed)   and 1pm to 4:30pm (Ped Ed)

MORE INFORMATION ON PED ED PROGRAM – CLICK HERE

MORE INFORMATION ON BIKE ED PROGRAM – CLICK HERE

To sign up, please call 326-PATH or email education@pathhawaii.org.

For more information on all of PATH’s Education Programs, visit www.pathhawaii.org/education

Run for Hope – September 4, 2011

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Sunday, September 4, 2011

2011 RUN FOR HOPE – FOUR SEASONS RESORT HUALALAI

Run For Hope is a non-competitive 10K Run – 5K Run/Walk event.  Proceeds from this event benefit cancer research in Hawaii.  On Sunday, September 4, the Run for Hope 10K Run and 5KRun/Walk commences at 7:00 am.  A $25 minimum donation includes a 2011 Run for Hope t-shirt.  Post Run/Walk gathering includes light breakfast and drawing for door prizes. For more information, call the Event Hotline at 808.325.8052 or registration forms are available at http://www.fsrh.net/pr/run_for_hope.pdf

Pu’u Wa’awa’a Volunteer Day & Outing – August 20, 2011

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Aloha,

E Mau Na Ala Hele will once again partner with the State to do a volunteer work day at Pu’u Wa’awa’a. It is a dry time of the year so we will not plant, but instead give a little TLC to one of the previous out-planting areas. We will meet at the PWW kiosk area near the front gate on Saturday, 20 August 2011 at 8am, work during the morning, have a pot luck lunch and then 4×4 car pool to an interesting area for an afternoon outing, returning to the kiosk area at approximately 4pm. The exact area will depend upon the number of participants so everyone is asked to RSVP to enable us to make appropriate plans. Please let us know if you will have a 4×4 that you are willing to drive or if you will need a ride. We will need to sign waivers, two of which are attached. Please print, read, sign and bring these waivers with you to make our morning start a little more efficiently. Minors will have to have a parent or guardian signature. Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Email laura@pathhawaii.org and we’ll put you in touch with the coordinator.

Mahalo for your continued interest and support of E Mau Na Ala Hele

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