Coconut Marketplace Mobility Hub Plan
Final Virtual Community Meeting
The County invites you to the final virtual community meeting for the Coconut Marketplace Mobility Hub Plan on Thursday, January 9, 2025 at 5:30 PM. The project team will share mobility hub project findings and recommendations for investing in and building a multimodal transportation center that makes it easier for people who live in, work in, and visit the east side of the island to get around. This meeting will be a chance to learn about the project work, analysis, concepts, and next steps.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the official page for the Coconut Marketplace Mobility Hub Plan, an initiative led by the County of Kauai with funding from the Hawaii Tourism Authority and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and in collaboration with the ABC Stores, State Legislator, visitor industry, and business industry. The vision of the hub will feature an airport shuttle to the marketplace, a suite of transportation options for residents, employees, and the visitors of the East side to use, and an information center.
In our planning for the Hub, the project’s priority goals are:
- Sharpen a vision for the mobility hub
- Estimate the effectiveness of the mobility hub
- Evaluate the feasibility of the mobility hub
- Develop a high level road map for implementation
This future Coconut Marketplace Mobility Hub is intended to be a significant step towards improving transportation on Kauai for tourists and residents alike, and, more broadly, serve as an example to replicate elsewhere on the island.
PROJECT SITE
PROJECT TIMELINE AND PROCESS
The anticipated project deadline: November 2024. View the tabs below for more details on each project task.
PROJECT SCOPE
- Review Existing Plans and Policies
- High-level Baseline Conditions and Potential Mobility Market Analysis
- Use Case and User Profiles
- Develop Initial Vision
- Stakeholder Charrette and Vision Development
- Virtual Community Open House
- Stakeholder Advisory Group Recommendation Workshop
- Final Presentation
- Parking Demand Data Analysis and Estimates
- Parking Management Plan
- High-Level Parking Implementation Plan
- Mobility Hub Visualization
- Mobility Hub Implementation and Operations Plan
- Cost Estimates, Revenue Estimates, and Economic Value
- Initial Alternatives
- Preferred Alternative
- Draft Shuttle Plan
- Final Shuttle Plan
- Draft Plan Report
- Final Plan Report
PROJECT BACKGROUND AND SUPPORTING PLANS
The County has been working in partnership with the Marketplace management, visitor industry, and State representatives to map out initial visioning for this project, and in summer 2022, we worked with the Royal Coconut Coast Association to complete a feasibility study.
Many of our County and State community plans map out goals for increased multi-modal transportation adoption to reduce congestion, decrease transportation costs, improve public health, and support greenhouse gas emissions reduction. See some below:
County led – Ongoing
Rethink how local travelers and visitors connect to the Līhu‘e Civic Center and the island through the Līhu‘e Civic Center Mobility Plan project. Create a plan for the Līhu‘e Civic Center area that will identify multimodal transportation access and parking management strategies to better support people’s travel within and to the area while supporting the County of Kaua‘i and State of Hawai‘i Transit Oriented Development (TOD) efforts.
Hanalei Initiative led – 2022
The intent of the North Shore Mobility Study is to thoroughly understand travel patterns, particularly focused on parking habits, constraints, and opportunities, and use that understanding to develop a plan to improve parking access and mobility.
Strategy calls out connecting Airport/Coconut Marketplace shuttle to Princeville and Investigate locations and partnerships to develop Princeville mobility hub.
State led – 2021
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), in partnership with the counties and the respective visitor bureaus, developed community-based Destination Management Action Plans (DMAPs) that aim to rebuild, redefne and reset the direction of tourism over a three-year period. The focus is on stabilization, recovery, and rebuilding to the desired visitor industry for each island. The DMAPs identify areas of need as well as actionable solutions for enhancing the residents’ quality of life and improving the visitor experience across the islands.
Action E: Encourage low-impact green rides to improve the visitor experience, reduce island trafc, increase small business opportunities, and meet climate action goals.
E.1 Foster and promote diverse mobility choices so that visitors may elect alternatives to renting cars for their entire stay.
E.2 Continuously examine the movement of visitors around the island, including popular visitor attractions and beach destinations, and encourage the development of public-private shuttle systems from the airport and in major Visitor Destination Areas (VDAs).
County led – 2018
The plan’s general framework focuses on how the island can manage growth and achieve its four main goals of sustainability, health, uniqueness, and equity.
“In order to support the General Plan’s greenhouse gas reduction policy, Kauai must reduce ground transportation emissions by 100% by 2045.” Pg. 196
EC 1.C.3 Support projects to encourage visitor transportation mode shift from single occupancy vehicles to other modes.
EC 1.D.2 Develop alternative transportation options for visitors, including shuttles and car sharing, to reduce visitor impact on our roads, highways, and scenic places.
ES 2.A.3 Accelerate the transition to alternative, carbon-free fuels in the ground transportation sector with regulations and policies that support electric vehicle adoption and other alternative fuel infrastructure.
County led – 2013
The MLTP outlines the steps the County of Kaua‘i will take to achieve a balanced multimodal transportation system through the planning horizon year 2035. Focuses on strategies for decreasing single-occupancy vehicles, by increasing mode share of multiple-occupant autos, walking, biking, and transit. The plan includes six programs as part of implementing an island-wide multimodal transportation network: a transit program, a bicycle program, a pedestrian program, a county roads program, an agriculture transportation program, and a land use program.
WHAT IS A MOBILITY HUB?
Mobility hubs are commonly seen as physical places that connect a variety of amenities and transport modes, which may include but are not limited to transit, private shuttles, car share, and micro-mobility options such as bikes.
Graphic credit: CoMoUK
CONTACT US
For any inquiries, please contact Christina Kaser:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (808) 241- 1950
