Honolulu has the dubious distinction of being the city with the longest drivetimes in the U.S. We beat out Los Angeles and New York City in the rankings compiled by a Seattle-based firm recently.

What that dismal ranking shows is that we are severely lane deficient on our highways and freeways.

While waiting to board planes, I have often overheard tourists talk about their driving experience in the Islands. Their comments have a common theme: Hawai'i is a nice place to visit, but they won't come back because of the traffic.

Unfortunately, the reality of our ailing transportation systems haven't propelled our state government to get back into the highway-building business. This needs to change.

We do have a transportation crisis in Honolulu, and it is at a level that warrants that the governor declare an emergency. That is why I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 269, which urged the governor to declare a state of emergency because of the critical condition of O'ahu's traffic and requested the assistance of the federal government in taking immediate action to resolve the crisis.

One solution to our traffic crisis was offered in the 2007 legislative session: House Bill 728 would have allowed the state to provide special-purpose revenue bonds to developers so that they would have the capital up front to construct new roads when projects are approved by the city or county and before new houses are added to the landscape. This type of legislation would require amending Hawai'i's Constitution and perhaps it could be addressed by the Constitutional Convention if one is held.

For decades, our state has embraced a policy to permit commercial, residential and industrial growth without properly investing in an infrastructure plan.

Why not use the emergency power of the executive branch to examine a strategy to get a reversible expressway built now instead of the 10 years or more that it would take for the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization to prioritize the planning, design and construction timetable?

I remain optimistic that rail will soften the intensity of our transportation crisis, but the fact remains that in my district there are plans for an additional 11,000 residential units in one development project alone on top of the 60,000 slated overall for the 'Ewa plain.

A projected influx of hundreds of thousands of new residents in the area will negate any relief from rail. It is a recipe for our transportation crisis to flourish.

We need to remain relentless in pushing for congestion relief for the future and to not just be reactive, as we are today.

It is my hope that concerned residents of Leeward O'ahu will give their comments to the state Land Use Commission immediately regarding development planned for 'Ewa, and will also consider going to the Web site http://hawaiihouseblognews.googlepages.com/hoopiliproject.pdf to view my letter to the commission.

In the end, we can have development projects prosper so long as there are additional transportation projects that support the new growth. It just might be that getting the funds into the developer's hands sooner rather than later to mandate the roads be built first is worthy of further examination.

Certainly, all of us can agree that at the very least we need to talk about doing something more than business as usual if we ever want traffic congestion to improve.

Rep. Rida Cabanilla Arakawa, D-42nd (Waipahu, Honouliuli, 'Ewa), wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.