Report Title:

Early completion incentives; major construction projects

WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation is tasked to complete many construction projects affecting Hawaii's roadways every year; and

WHEREAS, some of these projects are large in scale, such as the road widening of Kalanianaole highway between Aina Haina and Hawaii Kai in East Honolulu in the 1990's; and

WHEREAS, the slowed traffic flow, noise and inconvenience of construction represented a quality of life hardship for many residents who live in communities along Kalanianaole highway and posed an economic hardship to businesses situated on and in communities along Kalanianaole highway; and

WHEREAS, various strategies have been used in the past in this and other states to lessen the impact of large scale construction projects, including early completion incentives; and

WHEREAS, the inclusion of early completion incentives in large scale construction projects provide a powerful economic incentive to complete a project with the greatest amount of speed and quality possible; and

WHEREAS, high liquidated damages for projects that extend beyond the completion date also encourage contractors to be "on time"; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that this body requests the Department of Transportation to consider adopting a practice or rules whereby contracts for major construction projects which impede traffic flow and reduce capacity on major thoroughfares for more than sixty days should include early completion incentives and liquidated damages clauses in order to minimize the negative quality of life and economic impacts such major construction projects create; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and to the Director of the Department of Transportation.