SB1883

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds that the state's worsening transportation problems are imposing substantial costs on the state's citizens and businesses. Traffic congestion in the state's major metropolitan areas has worsened over time in relation to comparable metropolitan areas in other states. Traffic congestion diminishes the air quality and safety. Traffic congestion undermines the state's economic health, its citizens' quality of life and prosperity and perpetuates poverty.

The purpose of this Act is to minimize traffic congestion in order to improve the economic growth of the State and the well-being and safety of its citizens.

SECTION 2. Chapter 279A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§279A Transportation performance and accountability act. (a) The state department of transportation shall endeavor to minimize traffic congestion through adoption of the following system components:

(1) The department shall adopt an objective to reduce traffic congestion in the major metropolitan areas of the state within twenty-five years of enactment.

(2) The department shall adopt interim objectives that reduce travel time in the major metropolitan areas.

(3) The department shall propose a cost-effective plan to achieve the long-term and interim objectives at the lowest possible cost. The principal purpose of the plan shall be to identify the roadway resources and strategies that would need to be implemented to achieve the long-term and interim traffic congestion reduction objectives. The plan shall include cost estimates and the cost per reduced delay hour compared to the status quo case for the achievement of the long-term and interim traffic congestion reduction objectives.

(b) The traffic congestion reduction plan shall not include the use of tolling or road pricing except where it is already in use or for capacity expansion. No lanes currently operating without tolls shall be converted to tolling or road pricing except as such tolls are restricted to new users and the funds raised are devoted to capacity expansion and improvement on the roadway so tolled.

(c) To the maximum extent feasible, the department shall apply a cost-per-delay-hour standard in project evaluation within each of the major metropolitan areas. Cost shall include only actual proposed monetary expenditures by the state or other organizations making actual monetary expenditures with respect to the projects under consideration.

(d) In all of its project planning, the department shall consider the cost-per-reduced-delay-hour as a factor in decision-making. The department shall require the use of the cost-per-delay-hour factor in the major project planning by any authority, agency, or jurisdiction receiving transportation funding from the state. Major projects shall include any project with a projected cost of $10 million or more. While the program is focused appropriately on highway improvements, any improvement that is less costly per reduced delay hour than the highway improvement in the same corridor shall be fundable under this program. All major projects shall be re-evaluated two years after completion to ascertain actual delay improvements and actual benefits and costs.

(e) The department shall provide effective incident management that reduces annual incident congestion delay by at least 25 per cent within five years from date of enactment.

(f) The department shall reduce delays caused by congestion on roadways that are scheduled for improvement projects or construction by 10 per cent per year.

(g) The department shall annually maintain at least eighty per cent of the state's road surface in acceptable ride quality condition as measured by the International Roughness Index.

(h) The department shall annually maintain all bridges identified as weight restricted or structurally deficient so that there is no adverse effect of their safe use by emergency vehicles, school buses, and vehicles servicing the area economy.

(i) The department shall repair all reported potholes located on state roadways within one day of the receipt of notification 98 per cent of the time except during emergencies and adverse weather.

(j) The department shall reduce the injury rate, as measured by injuries per 100 million vehicle mile traveled (VMT), by an average of 2 per cent per year over the next ten years and to reduce the number of injuries by 1.5 per cent per year over the next ten years.

(k) The department shall reduce the fatality rate, as measured by fatalities per 100 million VMT, by an average of 2 per cent per year over the next ten years and to reduce the number of fatalities by 1.5 per cent per year over the next ten years.

(l) The department shall develop emergency preparedness plans, including regional evacuation plans, to respond to natural disasters, incidents related to homeland security, and serious disruption of major arteries due to infrastructure failure or serious traffic accidents.

(m) The information contained in the annual report shall be reported to the legislature and the citizens of the State of Hawaii on an annual basis, which would require the department to obtain information from other agencies along the lines of the information they already report to federal agencies, such as the Bureau of the Census and the Federal Transit Administration.

(n) The department shall submit to the legislature a condition and performance report modeled on and employing the data that the department of transportation submits to the Federal Highway Administration to support the federal Condition and Performance Report prepared under Congressional mandate. This department of transportation report will contrast the state's trends to the national trend situation in all areas introduced by the national report.

(o) The department shall utilize the support and expertise of the statewide transportation council, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, and other state departments and agencies in the implementation of this Act.

(p) The department shall, to the maximum extent feasible, integrate implementation of this Act with the statewide transportation plan and other existing planning processes and programs of the State and counties."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1883
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII