Bike Path - Does the County's proposed alignment protect the beach and respect Native Hawaiian Culture?

County approves bike path on Wailua Beach

The Sierra Club worked closely with Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and other groups for several months to persuade the County of Kauai to change its plans to locate a “multi-use transportation corridor” on top of the sands of Wailua Beach, one of the most historically and culturally significant places in the Hawaiian Islands.

In January 2011, the County issued a misleading press release stating that “the proposed alignment for the Wailua Beach section will be shifted from the beach to the right-of-way on the makai side of Kuhio Highway.” But in actual fact, the corridor (now proposed to be a 10 foot wide, 18 inch deep concrete path) would still be located on the beach.

InMarch 2011, the proposed alignment received approval from Federal Highways allowing the path to be built on top of Wailua’s vegetated, tree-covered sand dunes, an integral part of the narrow beach. Coastal sand dune systems are fragile, dynamic resources, and interfering with natural processesthrough the use of beach hardening devices, such as the concrete path, can create changes in sand deposition patterns that over the long term lead to erosion of the beach. Storm events, under the influence of such interference, could hasten irreversible beach loss.

Finally, the decision to place the path on the beach fell short in protecting Native Hawaiian rights and respecting traditional customary practices. A prominent cultural practitioner lamented, “It will potentially cause negative effects and impacts on historic properties and natural resources that Native Hawaiians have religious and cultural attachment to.”

As of spring 2012, the proposed bike path fronting Wailua Beach is yet be determined.

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