Kaua‘i works to create a walkable community
Jul 29, 2024
Kaua‘i’s year-round pleasant climate is ideal for pedestrians, making walking an attractive transportation choice. Recognizing this potential, the County of Kaua‘i has launched a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing walkability across the island. These projects seek to create safer, more accessible pedestrian infrastructure, encouraging residents and visitors alike to embrace walking as a primary mode of transportation. It also reduces residents’ dependence on cars just to get around in their own communities.
Kaua‘i’s Complete Streets program creates and designs streets for all modes of transportation, such as cars, bus, bicycles, and walking. However, walking is the most basic form of transportation and has many benefits:
- Saves you money and reduces your car dependency
- Adds some healthy activity to your day
- Supports our cleaner air and better for our environment
This shift not only contributes to sustainability efforts but also helps to lower the island’s carbon footprint and reduce transportation costs for individuals.
These segments are just several of many this year that will share information on joining the multimodal movement. These highlight the benefits of riding the bus, biking, walking and rail, among others.
Viewers will see how everyday multimodal transportation users go about their day without having to depend on driving a car, how making the choice is easy, and how it helps to reduce carbon emissions and traffic. The goal is to increase awareness of multimodal transportation choices and encourage residents to consider changing their routine and mindset about getting around.
Another significant benefit of not owning a car is saving money on gas and maintenance. In Hawai‘i, personal vehicles cost an average of $16,200 per household per year. Factoring in all public costs (state and county expenditures, social and economic trade-offs, and real estate value of land set aside for roadways and parking), the total comes to an estimated $40,600 per household per year.
Watch our two Multimodal Movement spots featuring the benefits of walking on the Garden Island: Part 1 and Part 2.