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, especially for working professionals and students commuting from outside the metro Honolulu area; and

WHEREAS, traffic congestion in Honolulu has been 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 around 30 minutes, and a commuter will experience around 76 hours of delays per year; and

WHEREAS, increased traffic in Hawaii has helped contribute to a surprising rate of around 10,000 serious traffic accidents a year; between 120 and 150 fatalities occur as a result of such accidents, with 8,000 to 12,000 individuals seriously injured; and

WHEREAS, the problems with traffic in Honolulu are particularly pronounced in the weekday commute between metro Honolulu and the Ewa area of Oahu; and

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

WHEREAS, although residential development and job growth has occurred 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 with the average commute time being at least 75 minutes, with 20 percent of commuters spending almost 90 minutes commuting to downtown Honolulu on a regular basis, and commuters have stated that it takes an average of 20 to 25 minutes just to get out of Ewa Beach; and

WHEREAS, common experience for both working professionals and students commuting from the Ewa region demonstrates that congested conditions exist because traffic is funneled onto major arterials with insufficient capacity leading from the Ewa marina, up Fort Weaver Road to the H-1 interchange, and from the H-1 interchange to downtown Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, the poor commuting experience from the Ewa region has only been made worse because of increased traffic congestion resulting from roadway closures and groundwork during the construction of the high-speed 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 2015, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Department of Accounting and General Services and University of Hawaii, is requested to establish a traffic mitigation plan for the Ewa 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 President of the University of Hawaii.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Traffic Mitigation for Ewa Region of Oahu

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	194
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII