HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	174
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES, AND UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO CREATE A TRAFFIC MITIGATION PLAN FOR THE LEEWARD AND CENTRAL AREA OF OAHU.

     WHEREAS, traffic congestion is a serious problem faced by cities around the country and throughout the world; and

     WHEREAS, traffic congestion negatively impacts the quality of life for many residents of Oahu, especially for working professionals and students commuting from outside the metropolitan Honolulu area; and

     WHEREAS, traffic congestion in Honolulu is consistently ranked as one of the worst in the nation, ranking second in a report by INRIX, a traffic information and driver services company; and

     WHEREAS, according to TomTom's traffic index, the average commute time in Honolulu is approximately thirty minutes, and a commuter will experience around seventy-six hours of delays per year; and

     WHEREAS, increased traffic in Hawaii contributes to a surprising rate of around 10,000 serious traffic accidents a year, resulting in between one hundred-twenty and one hundred-fifty fatalities and 8,000 to 12,000 individuals being seriously injured; and

     WHEREAS, the problems with traffic in Honolulu are particularly pronounced in weekday commutes between metropolitan Honolulu and the Leeward and Central area of Oahu; and

     WHEREAS, this problem may worsen with the growth of Kapolei and the Ewa region, particularly with recent economic forecasts predicting job growth in the Ewa market of more than 67,000 new jobs over the next decade and a half; and

WHEREAS, although residential development and job growth occur at a rapid pace, decreasing the need for some residents to commute to downtown Honolulu, the Ewa Development Plan of 2011 acknowledges that commuting to downtown Honolulu from the Ewa region remains a problem.  The average commute time is at least seventy-five minutes, with twenty per cent of commuters spending almost ninety minutes commuting to downtown Honolulu on a regular basis, and commuters have stated that it takes an average of twenty to twenty-five minutes just to get out of Ewa Beach; and

     WHEREAS, common experience for both working professionals and students commuting from the Leeward region demonstrates that congested conditions exist due to traffic funneling onto major arterials with insufficient capacity stemming from Makakilo Drive to downtown Honolulu; and

     WHEREAS, the poor commuting experience from the Leeward region is exacerbated by increased traffic congestion resulting from roadway closures and groundwork during the construction of the high-capacity rapid transit system; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Department of Accounting and General Services and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai‘i, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, Department of Transportation Services, Hawaii Community Development Authority, and the Office of Planning is requested to establish a traffic mitigation plan for the Leeward and Central region of Oahu; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation, the State Comptroller, and the President of the University of Hawai‘i.

Report Title: 

Requesting The Department Of Transportation, Department Of Accounting And General Services, And The University of Hawaii To Create A Traffic Mitigation Plan For The Leeward and Central Area Of Oahu.