HR297

WHEREAS, 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 in anticipation of catastrophic events such as earthquakes and flooding; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii experienced two large seismic events on October 15, 2006, that caused electrical blackouts and disruption to transportation in various areas of the State; and

WHEREAS, 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; and

WHEREAS, Paihi Bridge on the Hana Highway had to be closed and replaced with a temporary bridge, and military helicopters had to make deliveries of food, water, and fuel to residents affected by the shutdown of the bridge; and

WHEREAS, during the summer of 2007, a landslide and heavy rains caused flooding that closed the temporary bridge for two months; and

WHEREAS, according to a 2006 United States Department of Transportation assessment, forty-six per cent of Hawaii's bridges (513 of 1,110) are classified substandard, of which 156 are classified structurally deficient and 357 are classified functionally obsolete, ranking Hawaii as the third worst in the nation; and

WHEREAS, a substandard classification does not necessarily mean that bridges are unsafe, and certain bridges will never be brought 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; and

WHEREAS, as experiences with the earthquakes of 2006 and the landslide and heavy rains during 2007 have nevertheless shown, the Maui County Civil Defense Agency needs to take precautionary measures 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; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, that the Maui County Civil Defense Agency is requested to 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; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Maui County Civil Defense Agency is requested to include in the contingency plan the following:

(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, 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; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor and the Council of Maui County are requested to cooperate with the administrator of the Maui County Civil Defense Agency on the preparation of the disaster contingency plan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Maui County Civil Defense Agency is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor and members of the Council of Maui County and to the Civil Defense Administrator for Maui County.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Transportation; Civil Defense

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	297
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII