Transportation priorities OK'd
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Planners yesterday approved a $4.8 billion priority list for O'ahu transportation projects during the next 25 years, including a $1 billion bus rapid transit system.
Inclusion on the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization list makes projects eligible for federal matching monies and establishes transportation policies and goals.
The organization's policy committee, which includes state and city officials, declined to include an access to the Wai'anae Coast through Kolekole Pass or any other mountain route, saying the $515 million estimated cost was rough and that it would not be fair to tie up federal money for other projects while the route is studied.
The group is expected to include the list April 6 in a final transportation program report.
At the urging of City Councilman John DeSoto, who represents the Wai'anae area, the committee agreed to make the Wai'anae access road the highest priority on a second list of projects that remain under consideration.
DeSoto, saying that Wai'anae residents will feel neglected again, contended the cost of the project is not high in comparison with the cost of human lives. He also said that Wai'anae should start charging a user fee to affluent Kahala residents whose trash is deposited in the Leeward area landfill.
DeSoto urged elimination of proposed new lanes for existing highways in favor of a new mountain access to the Leeward coast.
City Transportation Director Cheryl Soon said the list includes a bypass around Makaha Beach Park and linking of back roads in Wai'anae to meet the need for a secondary access. She said the city is working on this project.
The list adds precision to the bus rapid transit system to make it eligible for more than $600 million in federal money, according to Committee Chairman Duke Bainum, a member of the Honolulu City Council.
It also adds a $300 million traffic tunnel under the entrance to Honolulu Harbor from Sand Island to Kaka'ako near Fort Armstrong, long favored by Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris. It, however, leaves out the related Sand Island Scenic Parkway and Marina Road which would make the tunnel part of an alternate route that would bypass downtown.
The plan avoided the controversial plan to double-deck Nimitz Highway through the industrial and downtown area, in favor of unspecified Nimitz Highway "improvements." Bainum, who has opposed a second deck, said he believes the state Department of Transportation "has gotten the message" and will study other alternatives including elevated "fly-over" Nimitz crossings of major intersections in the Kalihi area.
Hawai'i Bicycling League spokeswoman Georgette Yaindl praised the inclusion of $70 million to implement the state's bicycle plan on O'ahu, and $20 million for the city's bicycle master plan. But the list continues to favor new highways, which will bring more cars and congestion, she said.
The $1 billion bus rapid-transit project includes an 11.6 mile in-town segment with high capacity buses operating mostly in exclusive lanes beginning at Middle Street and branching into University of Hawai'i and Waikiki lines.
Rep. Fred Hemmings, 25th (R-Kailua, Waimanalo), vigorously opposed the bus plan yesterday, saying the existing system is subsidized by residents for tourists, and that the new one could end up being an enormous and costly boondoggle.
