STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2359

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2896

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 2896 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR HIGHWAY WIDENING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Transportation to widen Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Kuakini Highway between Henry Street and Kamehameha III Road on the island of Hawaii.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Office of the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, and two members of the Hawaii County Council. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes more than $100,000,000,000 in new funds to invest in the nation's roads, bridges, and major infrastructure projects. Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Kuakini Highway between Henry Street and Kamehameha III Road on the island of Hawaii are subject to chronic vehicular traffic that typically lasts several hours in the morning and evenings with a higher number of accidents resulting from the bottleneck, making widening the roads an important change and a possible project to receive federal funding. Therefore, the purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Transportation to widen Queen Kaahumanu Highway and Kuakini Highway between Henry Street and Kamehameha III Road on the island of Hawaii.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2896 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,

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CHRIS LEE, Chair