Surfers, bikers salvage Diamond Head parking
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Surfers and bicyclists came together to help save four dozen parking spaces on busy Diamond Head Road, averting a plan that would have eliminated much of the on-street parking in the popular area and limited access for hundreds of water enthusiasts who use the area daily.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
The spaces were to be removed under the Diamond Head Road Recreational Management Plan, which was created to address safety concerns caused by runners, surfers, fishermen, cyclists, cars and tour buses competing for the same space on the short stretch of road that rises from the end of Kapi'olani Park, skirts Diamond Head and ends at Kahala. The road offers access to prime surfing and fishing spots as well as spectacular vistas that make it popular for locals and tourists alike.
John Cater, who has surfed off Diamond Head for 35 years, said the no-parking plan forgot about the surfers and fishermen who frequent the area.
The plan, worked out by a community vision team with a private consulting group, called for building two bike lanes, one in each direction, eliminating makai-side parallel parking and widening the sidewalk.
But when the plan was unveiled in February, those who use the area every day saw problems ahead.
"Everyone forgot there was a surfing spot there and a state park," said John Cater, who has surfed off Diamond Head for the past 35 years.
Removing the spaces would have forced surfers and fishermen to park in crowded residential neighborhoods and walk along the busy road to get to the beach park at Kuilei Cliffs, said Cater.
There is some parking on the mauka side of the road, but none of it is marked, and using it would force users to cross Diamond Head Road to get to the beach park and the ocean.
Surfers gathered more than 400 signatures from people who wanted to retain the parking. They contacted the Hawai'i Bicycling League and organized a meeting. After e-mails and meetings, the groups and the city drafted the compromise last month.
"We recognized that there is a delicate balance that needs to be kept," said John Kelley, Hawai'i Bicycling League president. "Our question was: Can we make it safer and still make it accessible."
The parking spaces are highly valued, said Cater. Even an hour past dawn yesterday, all 48 stalls were occupied, with surfers, swimmers and fishermen using the Kuilei Cliffs state park for access to the ocean.
The city awarded a contract to Road Builders Corp. in December for $1.2 million to do the road restriping, put some utility lines underground and possibly color the pavement in a design at both ends of Diamond Head Road to remind drivers that this is a special park area, said Eric Crispin, deputy director of the city's Department of Design and Construction. The colored pavement would also serve the goal of making drivers slow down, Crispin said.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
