Pedestrians and cycling enthusiasts can make gains on two fronts in their new online brainstorming session about creating a safer environment.

Of course, they hope that the new Web site (see box) will generate good ideas about enabling cars and non-vehicular traffic to coexist in some places, and allowing dedicated car-free routes in others.

More importantly, the feedback will demonstrate to O'ahu leaders that a vocal constituency stands behind the official push to make O'ahu pedestrian- and bike-friendly.

That demonstration is needed to bolster the political will — lacking in the past — to make these improvements.

Web surfers also may stumble across the Honolulu Bicycle Master Plan site (www.honolulu.gov/dts/bikeway/). It's a hefty document more than a dozen years old, but not much has happened to give bikeways much more than a virtual presence.

The aborted effort to create a bikeway on Young Street is the quintessential case in point. The project stalled in 2004 after completion of only the first phase, between Victoria and Pensacola streets. One reason: Business owners complained about loss of parking and how landscaping could damage sidewalks and create hiding places for muggers. Those complaints led to a halt in funding of the project.

The city, in short, simply dropped the ball.

The hope of the Hawaii Bicycling League, the Sierra Club and other groups backing the Web survey is that city leaders will change their minds, partly because of the overwhelming passage of a City Charter amendment making the planning of bike and pedestrian routes part of the city's transportation duties.

This may be overly optimistic. What seems more reasonable is that responses to the survey will demonstrate more forcefully that bicycle and pedestrian safety matters to the people — the voters.

Responses to the survey are already pouring in. A sampling of the first responses shows that some people have very specific ideas that could help forge a more robust plan.

For example, one biker pointed out that traffic from small lanes emptying into Young Street makes that a less than ideal route; that's a concern worth considering.

Maybe city leaders will find the political will in the number of survey responses, and in the distressing incidence of pedestrian and cycling deaths.

Hawai'i boasts weather that's conducive to walking and biking year-round. There must be a way to begin remaking the city with that in mind.