By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
|
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
The average travel time of O'ahu commuters could be cut in half by the year 2030 with the completion of several big projects being considered here.
But the work could come with enormous environmental and economic costs, and no one knows if there's enough money or political will to make them a reality, officials said in a series of public meetings here last week.
The projects — which range from a tunnel under Pearl Harbor to an elevated road above Dillingham Boulevard — all have the potential to cut today's average 50-minute commute to under 25 minutes, according to figures made available at the meetings. The ideas sometimes prompted spirited discussion as residents argued over who's responsible for O'ahu's ever-growing traffic mess and what can be done about it.
"Some days I can walk to work faster than drive," said Kapolei resident Ron Schaedel. "It's about time we put an end to development until they can do something about the congestion."
Planners developing the 2030 O'ahu Regional Transportation plan believe the island's population and employment will rise more than 25 percent to more than 1.1 million people and 633,000 jobs over the next 25 years. The highest levels of growth are expected in urban Honolulu, 'Ewa and Central O'ahu, the same areas that already suffer the worst traffic congestion.
Without any major new initiatives, driving times from Wai'anae, 'Ewa, Kapolei and Central O'ahu are expected to increase significantly, in some cases putting drivers on the road for more than two hours each way, according to research done by the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Relief is available, but at a price.
"Each of these concepts has the potential to provide significant time savings for motorists, but all of them are likely to cost more money than we have," said Dick Kaku, the planner who is putting the 2030 plan together for the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization. "We're going to need other funds from the state, federal government and the private sector."
To help prioritize the more than 200 transportation projects being considered for funding over the next 25 years, planners have divided them into four groups and run computer models to show how much each would relieve congestion. Ultimately, though, they expect policymakers to treat the four groupings like a menu, choosing the best items from each.
The four concepts are:
Any one of the concepts is estimated to cost more than the entire transportation funding historically available to O'ahu, said Gordon Lum, O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization executive director. Preliminary cost estimates for a Pearl Harbor tunnel, for instance, run as high as $10 billion, more than double what was budgeted for all transportation projects the last time the planning organization did a similar survey.
One of the most surprising things so far is how much all of the individual concepts could reduce commuting times, officials said. Under all the scenarios, an average 50-minute one-way commuting time is cut to 25 minutes or less, even when the growth in population and jobs is factored in.
Vehicle miles traveled daily and annual hours of delay also would be reduced under all the options.
The rail transit option is the only one that substantially gets more people out of their cars and into alternative transit, including buses, the planners said.
At meetings in Makiki, Kapolei and Mililani Mauka last week, responses to the proposals were all over the place, with some speakers urging public officials to adopt all of them, no matter what the cost, and others saying nothing should be done until additional development is brought under control in Central and Leeward O'ahu.
"The speed of the rail system should be emphasized so people will use it," said 'Ewa Beach resident Gary Bautista.
"We need more than rail," countered Kapolei resident Cynthia Spencer. "We need people working to put more jobs out in this area first."
And in Mililani, more than a dozen North Shore residents showed up to complain about increasing traffic jams caused by tourists interested in seeing high surf and turtles resting on the beach.
"No one is even thinking of us, even though the traffic is so bad we can't get in and out of our homes and there's a big safety problem of hundreds of tourists crossing the highway with no traffic signal and no crosswalk," North Shore resident Scott Ray said.
Kaku said the projects should be viewed as helping people across the whole island, not just specific areas.
"We've got the potential to offer major improvements in the travel times of most residents if we can find the funding," he said.
Lum said he hopes the continuing discussion about specific projects will spur interest in providing more funding, perhaps through alternative sources including the military, toll roads, and public-private partnerships in developing areas.
Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
