Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Government Operations, to which was referred S.R. No. 14 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Transportation to study and evaluate existing traffic conditions in the South Kona area of Hawaii and prepare a traffic solution plan to minimize existing and future traffic problems.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation.

Motor vehicle traffic accidents involving multi-vehicle collisions are becoming more commonplace in the South Kona area of the Big Island, often resulting in fatalities and serious bodily injury. Fatal multi-vehicle accidents cause a tie-up in traffic flow while traffic investigators meticulously investigate the scene of the accident, and other agencies such as ambulances, police, and firefighters do their work at the scene. Traffic commonly can become backlogged and tied up for hours.

With its growing population and development of nearby areas, South Kona area traffic congestion will only increase. The logical and prudent course of action to alleviate this existing and future problem is to study and evaluate existing traffic conditions in the area, compare the data with current and projected population data, and develop a traffic solution plan that will accommodate the needs of the South Kona community for now and the future.

Your Committee has amended this measure on the recommendation of the Department of Transportation by extending the reporting date to twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007, because work cannot begin until 2006 when demographic and traffic forecasting models will be completed as a prerequisite to initiating this study.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 14, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 14, S.D. 1.