"Eliminating vehicle transportation from goals..." 'Glenn Mickens' (The Kaua'i Watchdog)

Glenn Mickens has lived on Kauai  with his wife Ruth for the last 26 years. Born July 26, 1930 in Wilmar, California, USA) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched in four games (two of which were starts) for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers. He also played for five years in Japan, from 1959 until 1963 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. There, he compiled a record of 45–53 with a 2.54 ERA.  Glenn also  served in the Army for 2 years and coached baseball at UCLA for 25 years. 
Last but not least Glenn would really like to see Kauai give the county manager style of Government a chance.  Glenn's Column from here on out will be known as; 
"The Kaua'i Watchdog."

Mr. Mickens is locally known
as one of Kauai county's
political watchdogs
and Nitpickers...
Mahalos Gl

Eliminating vehicle transportation from goals

Why are our planners and designers completely eliminating vehicle transportation from any of their goals and objectives when vehicles are and will be the major means of use on Kauai?
In my view we should treat guesstimates that non-automotive traffic would triple between now and 2035 very suspiciously.

We are again thinking about "ready, aim, firing" by spending millions of dollars for a plan that has no basis in fact and certainly one that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to implement ever if we had the money which we don't. 

Buses, shuttles, bikes and walking are a minuscule part of the transportation problem and yet we are spending the bulk of our time and money on a dream world scenario where people are going to get rid of their vehicles. 

Traffic is a huge problem in Kapaa

No one denies that traffic, for locals and tourists alike, is the #1 problem that we need to addressed. But it can only be solved if we widen our road lanes (like the contra-flow system that works by adding 1 more lane at the rush hour traffic hours) and by making our cane haul roads usable as alternate means of travel as the Kapaa bypass has done over the years. These are examples of what is working and not just hypothetical plans that will never work. 

One might argue that Freeways like the H1 were built and yet traffic is still a problem. But they were built since the mass of the people refuse to use anything but their vehicles for transportation and, without those freeways (like in Los Angeles and other major cities) the surface roads would be parking lots without them. Recently we widened the Kaumalii highway at a multimillion dollar cost to include two six foot bike lanes.  One observer told me that he has never seen a bike at any time on these lanes.

We completely failed to make our long range plans workable where our infrastructure is put in place before issuing permits to handle the people and vehicles. If we use the monies designated for our roads plus get the TAT tax we deserve from the state we will have funds to do as I have stated above. 

Editor's note, Dakinetalk guest bloggers do not necessarily represent the opinions of dakinetalk. Guest bloggers are given space to express their beliefs and or opinions. We feel there are many roads and like to give people space to express their thoughts,after-all that's what dakine is...

Aloha, James "Kimo" Rosen---Blogger-n-chief, dakinetalk blog---

P.S.
Check out this Fun YouTube of Bernie Sanders and Katie Couric;
"Bernie Has Chutzpah!"  ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heE143betU8

P.S.S.
Check out Glenn's Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Mickens

With all the stress of the world, don't forget to
watch the sunrise or sunset, it's free! 

Above photo-"Sleeping Giant mountain

Birds always add to the drama of a Kapa'a Sunrise!

Photo, James "Kimo" Rosen

Hana Hou, (Encore) Shared From Facebook...