The remarkable story behind Lanikai’s one-way loop and bicycle path.
In the early 1970s, a young Lanikai schoolgirl named Linda Bell narrowly escaped tragedy when her bicycle struck a rock, throwing her into the roadway. An approaching car missed her head by mere inches.
At the time, Mokulua Drive and ʻAʻalapapa Drive were both two-way streets, leaving little room for the hundreds of neighborhood children who rode bicycles every day.
The frightening accident galvanized local parents, including Cynthia Thielen, who helped organize a campaign for safer streets. A neighborhood survey counted approximately 600 bicycles in Lanikai, most belonging to children.
With the leadership of Lanikai Association president Ted Rodgers, residents gathered signatures from 262 families in support of a dedicated bikeway and a new one-way traffic system.
On July 1, 1972, the Lanikai Bikeway officially opened, transforming the neighborhood into the familiar one-way loop we know today—the first traffic configuration of its kind on Oʻahu.
More than fifty years later, every time someone bicycles along the Lanikai loop, they’re traveling a route made safer through the determination of neighbors who came together after one little girl’s near-tragic accident.
Sometimes the smallest moments change a community forever.
Historical reference: Hawaiʻi State Senate Resolution 122 (2022).