Pearl Harbor Bike Path

[Wildcat]

This bike path circles the upper part of Pearl Harbor and a lot of people used to commute to work and back, or would lock up their bikes and take the bus the rest of the way to work. Then it became overrun by homeless because the police had no jurisdiction and the Navy, who owns the property, didn't have the manpower to patrol the 12 miles of path. The homeless' dogs were biting people and many were afraid to go near the homeless, camped right along the path. Junk and trash is piled up all along the bike path.
So, after a few years of this, the Navy agreed to let the local cops patrol the path. The city is again chasing off the homeless to another area. There is still no real solution offered up.
The bike path is going to be cleaned up and improved. I'll take a ride when it opens in September and post up some pics.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/36073947/pearl-harbor-bike-path

 

[ADVHOG]

I bet that's gonna be Awesome! I love my local rail trail!

 

[RustySprockets]

Honestly, I'm surprised that entry onto USN property isn't restricted. Been to Pearl a loooong time ago and it was gorgeous then...no panhandlers in sight and likely shoo'd away by the SPs if there were.

Please do post pics...so we shoebies may live vicariously.

 

[Wildcat]

I'll check to see if it's actually open yet.

I rode around Pearl Harbor back in my Navy days (1982) along Nimitz highway. It was nice, but as I drove through there today, every inch of space under the bridges is occupied by the homeless, trash everywhere.
Maybe that's next on the cleanup plan.

 

[Wildcat]

I bet that's gonna be Awesome! I love my local rail trail!

I grew up in Sandusky and wish I could ride some of the trails up there. In Grand Forks, ND they have an excellent set of paths, the Greenway. I rode those for 3 years and they are the best. In Florida I rode the Gainesville paths (Hawthorne) while doing MS rides. The Baldwin rail trail there is good too.

 

[Wildcat]

I rode the whole path back and forth, about 12 miles total. They spent a month to clean it up, but it must have been pretty bad, it still needs some work. One stretch still had encampments and I had an old car back out of the bushes while I was going by. One "settler" had a mountain of old bikes and parts.
I would rate this trail 4 out of ten. The industrial areas have a funny chemical smell and there are posts sticking up a few inches in the middle of the path so they can close off sections. There was a southern breeze today, unusual because it's normally a NE trade wind flow across the Island. So it probably smells worse on most days. I could see lots of cleaned out areas with no grass, there were hundreds of homeless people all through the area. One part of the trail goes through a junkyard, both sides have scrap all over the place.
I saw about 10 mongoose as I rode but they were too quick for a pic. The park about halfway was also redone and cleaned up, it looked good. I'll probably ride this again, but the North Shore looks and smells much better.

 

[Wildcat]

I took another ride on the path today, trying out the new front wheel, tires, and forks. The 3 speed conversion is a big plus. The path is still fairly clear, with only a few new homeless camps set up along the way. The industrial area still has a foul smell, but the junkyard area was cleaned up somewhat. A couple cars were using the path illegally, but that's the norm.