THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

107

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION TO CONVENE A JOINT HEARING WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND PERMITTING OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU TO CONSIDER THE LIKELY IMPACTS ON TRAFFIC BY THE PROPOSED TURTLE BAY RESORT EXPANSION AND MITIGATIVE MEASURES THAT MAY BE REQUIRED BY THE EXPANSION.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the state Department of Transportation's mission is to provide a safe, efficient, accessible, and inter-modal transportation system that ensures the mobility of people and goods and enhances and preserves economic prosperity and the quality of life; and

 

     WHEREAS, Kamehameha Highway, the only regional roadway on the north shore of Oahu, is a narrow, two-lane roadway that has seen tremendous traffic volume increases in recent years; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Oahu Regional Transportation Plan for the year 2030 includes no significant capacity improvements for this highway within the next twenty-three years; and

 

     WHEREAS, a traffic study completed in 2005 for the proposed Kawailoa Beach Park estimated a volume of one thousand six hundred vehicles per hour on Saturday afternoons, a time when traffic usually backs up for miles in both directions; and

 

     WHEREAS, Kuilima Resort Company's 2005 Traffic Impact Analysis Report update estimates the expanded Turtle Bay Resort will generate up to two thousand fifty-four additional vehicle trips per hour; and

 

     WHEREAS, Kamehameha Highway cannot support the projected increase in vehicular traffic without improvements to provide additional capacity; and

 

     WHEREAS, design, construction, maintenance, and upgrades to the state highway system are the responsibility of the State of Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, emergency vehicles have greater difficulty navigating gridlocked traffic, which could cause significant delays in emergency response and pose serious safety concerns to the residents and visitors of the State of Hawaii; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the Senate Committee on Transportation and International Affairs and the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation are requested to convene a joint hearing to consider the likely traffic impacts of the proposed Turtle Bay Resort expansion and mitigation measures that might be needed as a result of the proposed expansion; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Transportation for the State of Hawaii and the Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu are requested to participate in the joint hearing; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the impacts of the proposed expansion are estimated to bring the highway levels of service and volume-to-capacity ratio outside of national and state highway guidelines:

 

     (1)  The Director of Transportation is requested to suggest potential mitigation measures and broad estimates of the costs and timelines involved to implement the mitigation measures; and

 

     (2)  The Director of the Department of Planning an Permitting is requested to explain what measures, such as project phasing related to highway capacity expansion, may be required of the developer; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation is requested to delay issuing written confirmation that it has no objections to approval of the City and County of Honolulu's final subdivision map of the Turtle Bay bulk lot subdivision until the conclusion of this joint committee hearing; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation, the Governor, the Director of Transportation, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, the Chair of the Honolulu City Council, and the Director of the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Turtle Bay Expansion; Traffic Impacts.