STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3628

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 92

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.R. No. 92 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU TO TRANSFER TO THE STATE THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU'S AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT A MAKAKILO DRIVE EXTENSION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the City and County of Honolulu to transfer to the State its authority to construct a Makakilo Drive extension to Kualakai Parkway.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Palehua Townhouse Association.

Your Committees find that although over twenty thousand residents live in Makakilo in the City and County of Honolulu, Makakilo Drive remains the only way into and out of the residential area. Given the August 2023 Maui wildfire in Lahaina, your Committees recognize the importance and necessity of evacuation routes and access points in residential areas. This measure promotes public safety and improves transportation in Makakilo by facilitating the construction of an additional route and access point for residents in the area.

Your Committees acknowledges that the City and County of Honolulu (City and County) has been encountering design and planning setbacks to address the limited access to and from the Makakilo area for years. Accordingly, your Committees recommend that the Department of Transportation and City and County examine a cost-sharing model whereby the State would build the bridges and the City and County would build the roads for the project.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Transportation and Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 92 and recommend its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair