![]() ![]() This year, he authored a bill that would’ve dissolved and refashioned the Hawaii Tourism Authority into an agency more focused on destination management. When he was running for reelection last year, he had pointed to Laniakea as one of his constituents’ most vocalized concerns. Quinlan chairs the House Tourism Committee and is a big proponent of managed tourism. Kamehameha Highway has one lane going toward Haleiwa and one lane going toward Kahuku. He added that even emergency vehicles get stuck in the traffic. “It’s one more step that we have to take along the way to improving, really, the health of that highway,” he said. Sean Quinlan, whose district includes North Shore and Koolauloa, said that the project will be an improvement even though it won’t single-handedly clear the roads. A group of local residents sued, claiming that beach access was being restricted, and a Hawaii Circuit Court judge ordered that the barriers be removed in 2015.Ĭrosswalks were set up from the mauka lot to the beach, to help contain road-crossing to predictable spaces.īut the setup still ensures that people have to cross the road to access the beach, interrupting cars. Drivers carefully parallel park into whatever snug spaces they can find, ignoring signs that declare “no parking.”Īll the while, residents hoping to buy groceries or visit family and friends drive Kamehameha highway at their peril.Īt Laniakea, if they’re lucky, visiting drivers can find a spot in the current dirt lot situated mauka of Kamehameha Highway.Ībout a decade ago, the DOT put up barriers to block any kind of parking. During wintertime surf swells, when the waves are larger than life and the crowds are even larger, it can be almost impossible to find parking in individual beach lots.Ĭars line the side of the road. When traffic builds up in one section of the highway – whether that be at Laniakea or at some other beach – motorists have no choice but to endure the logjam.Īnd traffic can strike from a variety of situations. Communities along this stretch of shoreline are solely connected via Kamehameha Highway, which contains one lane of traffic moving in each direction. Officials acknowledge this won’t be a silver bullet to all of the North Shore’s traffic problems – those issues run deeper. Managed ParkingĭOT head Ed Sniffen said during a council meeting that under the project’s timeline advertising for a contractor would start in June, and that construction would begin around the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024. She was joined by 13 others, including former state Sen. “It is imperative that the parking be managed and not be haphazard with cars backing into traffic,” wrote resident Barbara Fisher in her supportive testimony. Though the improvements are meant to be an interim and partial solution, part of the larger effort to move Kamehameha Highway inland away from rising ocean water, testifiers at the council meeting overwhelmingly supported the project. Pedestrians crossing from the mauka parking lot to the beach have to cross in front of cars, disrupting the flow of traffic on during busy times. Barriers separate Kamehameha Highway traffic from a pedestrian path across from Laniakea Beach. In addition, this creates a parking lot that could be managed more granularly, following a statewide trend of more managed tourism. The thinking is that this will stop people from crossing in front of cars so often, and as a result will help keep traffic flowing. Now, after receiving the final thumbs up from the Honolulu City Council for an initial permit, the state Department of Transportation is looking to build a new parking area on the makai side of the road and shift Kamehameha Highway mauka of its current location. ![]() Residents have been complaining about this for years. ![]() Sightseers have become enamored by the beach’s famous sea turtles in recent decades, coinciding with the entire North Shore’s explosion in popularity as more and more visitors venture up the coast from Waikiki and other areas. Laniakea’s notorious traffic jams may finally get some relief through the construction of a makai-side parking lot set to be constructed in the next couple of years. Managed parking is set to come to this popular beach teeming with tourists and residents who come to watch the sea turtles. ![]()
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