Ala Moana Beach Park is About to Get a Huge Makeover

Ala Moana Beach Park is in line to be spruced up, beginning next year.

May 4, 2016

Michael Keany,

photos: courtesy of city and county of honolulu

Big changes are in store for one of O‘ahu’s largest, busiest beach parks, including swapping out parking stalls for a bike path and covering over an unsightly canal.

Late April, the City and County of Honolulu unveiled its new master plan for Ala Moana Beach Park. “It’s a gathering place for everyone on O‘ahu. But, after 82 years, the park is just showing its age,” says Chris Dacus, executive assistant of Historic Parks and Projects for the City and County. “It gets 4 million visitors a year, it’s a large park and it’s time it got some attention.”

Dacus says the city will be collecting public comment for the next few months, leading to a final plan to be released in the fall. If approved, construction would begin in 2017, with sub-projects rolled out individually over the next five to 10 years.

Here are a few of the most dramatic proposals:

Covering over the canal near Ala Moana Boulevard, increasing the amount of green space and making it easier to enter the park from that side.

Reconfiguring the driveway running through the park. Makai-side parking would be replaced with a bike lane and the mauka-side parking turned into perpendicular stalls. Not to worry: There’ll be the same overall number of spaces when everything’s completed.

Installing new buildings and features across the park, potentially including a playground, a community events pavilion and a bike-share station.

Relocating the canoe hale near the yacht harbor to Magic Island’s waterfront, eliminating the need for paddlers to cross the street with their canoes.

General improvements that include rejuvenating the grass, upgrading and expanding the jogging/biking paths and planting additional trees to shape the open spaces.