HB2577

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that it is critical for the safety, health, and well-being of residents of rural areas in the State, particularly those areas where access is restricted to single-lane roads served by numerous bridges, that transportation be maintained, especially in anticipation of catastrophic events such as earthquakes and flooding. Hawaii experienced two sizeable seismic events on October 15, 2006 that caused electrical blackouts and disruption to transportation in various areas of the State. On the island of Maui, especially on the road between Hana and Kipahulu on the southeastern side of the island, several bridges on the one-lane road were damaged when the earthquakes fractured rock foundations beneath the bridges. Paihi bridge on the Hana highway had to be closed and replaced with a temporary bridge. Military helicopters had to make deliveries of food, water, and fuel to residents affected by the shutdown of the bridge. During the summer of 2007, a landslide and heavy rains caused flooding that closed that temporary bridge for two months.

The legislature finds that, according to a 2006 federal Department of Transportation assessment, forty-six per cent of Hawaii's bridges (513 of 1,110) are classified substandard, of which one hundred fifty-six are classified structurally deficient and three hundred fifty-seven are classified functionally obsolete, ranking the State as the third worst in the nation. Although a substandard classification does not necessarily mean those bridges are unsafe, certain bridges will never be improved up to current federal standards. For example, there is no practicable way to provide two-lane access to the more than fifty bridges along the one-lane Hana highway. However, as experience with the earthquakes of 2006 and the landslide and heavy rains during the summer of 2007 has shown, the State needs to take precautionary measures in terms of anticipatory disaster contingency planning to maintain continued access to the numerous communities served by the Hana highway and its many one-lane bridges in the event of a catastrophic event.

The purpose of this Act is to require the department of transportation to prepare a disaster contingency plan to maintain access to communities served by the Hana highway, including its numerous one-lane bridges.

SECTION 2. Disaster contingency planning; Hana highway and bridges; report. (a) The director of transportation shall prepare a disaster contingency plan to maintain continued transportation access along the Hana highway, including the one-lane bridges along the highway, in the event of catastrophic events such as earthquakes, landslides, or heavy rain and flooding. The plan shall include at least:

(1) Identification of potential catastrophic events that may impair transportation access along Hana highway;

(2) Feasible plans and actions that can be implemented in preparation and anticipation of each type of catastrophic event, such as seismic retrofitting work to strengthen the one-lane bridges and procurement of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for such work, plans for alternate routes, and plans for state-county liaison and interagency cooperation;

(3) Actions to be taken during a catastrophic event; and

(4) Follow up actions to be taken after a catastrophic event.

(b) The mayor and the council of the county of Maui shall cooperate with the director of transportation on the preparation of the disaster contingency plan, as requested by the director.

(c) The director shall submit its disaster contingency plan, including findings, recommendations, and any necessary proposed legislation to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2009.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the department of transportation to prepare the disaster contingency plan pursuant to section 2.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of transportation for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval, except that section 3 shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2577
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII