After years on the drawing board and in the planning room, the Hilo Bayfront Trails project has made the leap to reality.
After years on the drawing board and in the planning room, the Hilo Bayfront Trails project has made the leap to reality.
The first slab of concrete for the pedestrian and bicycle path was poured earlier this week on the makai side of the Bayfront soccer fields. It will link Downtown Hilo with Banyan Drive and is set to be completed by the end of the year.
“It’s awesome,” said Hilo Bayfront Trails president Peter Kubota as he stood on the new slab Thursday morning. “It’s been a long time coming.”
When the full trail system is complete, it will comprise 6 miles of 12-foot-wide paths and connect 700 acres of local and state park facilities.
Planning for the trails began more than a decade ago. The nonprofit Hilo Bayfront Trails group secured its first grant from the National Park Service in 2011.
Cost estimates for the project increased with time, pushing the start date back.
The first phase of the trails project costs close to $1 million. About $514,000 comes from the National Park Service grant, which was increased from its initial amount.
Hawaii County Parks and Recreation is funding the remaining portion of phase one.
County crews and contractor Island Construction and Demolition LLC ran into an initial delay because of the heavy rainfall this month that led to flooding along Bayfront.
But they made up the time, said Hilo Bayfront Trails vice president Matthias Kusch.
“(Wednesday morning) was pretty lousy weather, and they got 50 yards (of concrete pour) done,” he said.
Kusch said he’s looking forward to biking along Bayfront with his two daughters.
“We can park downtown, ride our bikes all the way to Coconut Island and jump off, ride back and get a shave ice,” he said.
“When you travel and go to other cities, they have these beautiful trails along their frontages,” Hilo Bayfront Trails board member Christine Makaweo said.
The project’s first phase also is its longest, and will create nearly a mile of trail when complete.
The second phase will go through the Banyan Drive area and is being incorporated into the ongoing redevelopment plans for the peninsula.
Phase two is expected to cost about $900,000. A community fundraising effort launches Nov. 4.
As part of that effort, people will be able to purchase 12-by-12-foot sections of the trail and have their names engraved on the pathway.
“We feel like if we get the first phase built, (it will) give people an idea of what it is we’re doing,” Kubota said.
East Hawaii philanthropist Ed Olson of Wainaku Ventures previously made a pledge to match the first $250,000 raised by the community.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources Parks Division also is working on a series of pathways through the Wailoa River State Recreation Area that eventually will connect to the Hilo Bayfront Trails portion. That portion is expected to begin construction in early 2017.
For more information, visit hilobayfronttrails.org.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.