WHEREAS, Kailua High School is located in the heart of a residential community serving residents of both Kailua and Waimanalo; and

WHEREAS, there is only a single nineteen-foot-wide roadway permitting access to both its campus and its playing fields; and

WHEREAS, considerable concerns have been raised about access by emergency vehicles when events including athletic contests, graduation exercises, and special scheduled events held at the school frequently clog the Pohakupu subdivision with traffic and parked cars; and

WHEREAS, right turns from Kalanianaole Highway into the Pohakupu subdivision were banned following a series of pedestrian accidents and property damage, the result of which forced students from Waimanalo, Enchanted Lake, and Keolu Hills and their parents to compete with over 9,000 vehicles entering the intersection at Castle Medical Center in morning rush-hour traffic; and

WHEREAS, residents in the area, while supporting the school's activities, are nonetheless continually subjected to excessive noise from cars, trucks, and buses, as early as 5:00 a.m. and as late as midnight, and traffic beyond what is safe and reasonably expected in a suburban residential community; and

WHEREAS, the new entrance would take those hundreds of vehicles out of that daily bottleneck at the Castle Medical Center intersection, reducing both illegal cut-through traffic through the Olomana and Pohakupu subdivisions and protecting younger school children walking to Maunawili Elementary School; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation Services of the City and County of Honolulu has recognized in a February 7, 2001, letter that the construction of an alternative access road to Kailua High School has merit and would relieve traffic congestion at the Castle Medical Center intersection; and

WHEREAS, there has been documented substantial and consistent community support for an alternative access road from both the Kailua and Waimanalo Neighborhood Boards; and

WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu in the Mayor's July 17, 2001, letter has agreed to maintain the new road; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Water Supply would be able to use the new access road and not have to rebuild its currently eroded access road; and

WHEREAS, offers of material assistance have been made by two local corporations that would considerably offset costs incurred by the State of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the array of issues including funding, security, planning, engineering, design, maintenance, and community consensus can only be successfully resolved by coordination with the various agencies equipped to deal with these issues; and

WHEREAS, expertise is available through such agencies as the United States Department of Defense, the state Departments of Transportation, Education, Accounting and General Services, and Public Safety, the City and County of Honolulu, the Department of Transportation Services, the Board of Water Supply, the Kailua Neighborhood Board, the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, the Olomana, Pohakupu/Kukanono Community Association, and private businesses within the communities; and

WHEREAS, it is recognized that an alternative road that combines access, safety, and security be planned with the participation of the above-mentioned agencies and also to include the Honolulu Fire Department, the Honolulu Police Department, Castle Medical Center, the Alumni Association of Kailua High School, and the administration and faculty of Kailua High School, and other agencies and individuals; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that the Department of Accounting and General Services is urged to establish an intergovernmental-community task force to develop a plan to design an alternative access road to Kailua High School that involves citizen participation and a public/private partnership ensuring safe transit for the benefit of students, drivers, pedestrians, and security for residents; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this task force is requested to provide a comprehensive report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2004; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, Director of Transportation, Comptroller of Accounting and General Services, Superintendent of Education, Director of Public Safety, Director of Transportation Services for the City and County of Honolulu, Manager and Chief Engineer of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, the Chairperson of the Kailua Neighborhood Board, the Chairperson of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, and the Chairperson of the Olomana, Pohakupu/Kukanono Community Association.

Report Title:

Intergovernmental-Community Task Force; Alternate Access Road