Meeting Summary of the

Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization

 

CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEE

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 3:30 p.m.
Mayor’s Conference Room
Honolulu Hale, Room 301
530 South King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii

 

 

Members Present:                                                                        

NB #10 Makiki-Lower Punchbowl-Tantalus

Charles Carole, Chair

Committee for Balanced Transportation

Joe Magaldi, Jr., Vice Chair

American Society of Civil Engineers

Tiffany Hamada

American Society of Landscape Architects

Chris Dacus

Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii

Dean Minakami

Charley’s Taxi

Dale Evans

Committee for Balanced Transportation

Frank Genadio

E Noa Corporation

Tom Dinell

Eye of the Pacific

Patricia Blum

Hawaii Bicycling League

Scott Snider

Hawaii Highway Users Alliance

Darcianne Evans

Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers, Local 996

Michael Costa

Interagency COORDINATION Councils

CC Curry

NB #01 Hawaii Kai

Greg Knudsen

NB #03 Waialae-Kahala

Lester Fukuda

NB #05 Diamond Head-Kapahulu-Saint Louis Heights

Bert Narita

NB #08 McCully-Moiliili

Ron Lockwood

NB #14 Liliha-Alewa-Puunui-Kamehameha Heights

Arvid Youngquist

NB #18 Aliamanu-Salt Lake-Foster Village

Lorene Godfrey

NB #23 Ewa

R. Scott Belford

NB #24 Waianae Coast

David Brown

NB #25 Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu

David Aki

NB #34 Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale

Michael Golojuch

NB #35 Mililani Mauka-Launani Valley

Pamela Young

Pacific Resource Partnership

Richard Kane

Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter

Randy Ching

Waianae Coast Transportation Concerns Group

Dick Boddy

Waikiki Residents Association

Daisy Murai

 

Members Absent (Reps):

American Planning Association

John Valera

Hawaii Transportation Association

Gareth Sakakida

Honolulu Community Action Program

Vai Leatiota

Institute of Transportation Engineers

Peter Pascua

Land Use Research Foundation

David Arakawa

League of Women Voters

Jacqueline Parnell

Leeward Oahu Transportation Management Association

David Arakawa

NB #02 Kuliouou-Kalani Iki

Linda Starr

NB #09 Waikiki

Robert Finley

NB #12 Nuuanu-Punchbowl

Jay Fidell

NB #13 Downtown

Burton White

NB #21 Pearl City

Cruz J. Vina, Jr.

NB #22 Waipahu

Thomas Maus

NB #26 Wahiawa

Robert Kent

NB #27 North Shore

Antya Miller

NB #30 Kaneohe

Wendell Lum

North Shore Chamber of Commerce

Gil Riviere

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

Lowell Kalapa

 

Guests Present:

Mary Protheroe

AARP

Ben Gorospe

Department of Transportation

Tammy Lee

DOT

Councilmember Ann Kobayashi

Honolulu City Council

Alan S. Lloyd

HonoluluTraffic.com

Cliff Slater

HonoluluTraffic.com

Janet Inamine

Moiliili resident

Carl Jacobs

NB #20 Aiea

Doug Chun

Office of Council Services

Nalani Dahl

Parsons Brinkerhoff

Steve Hogan

Parsons Brinkerhoff

 

OMPO Staff Present:

Gordon Lum (Executive Director) and Marian Yasuda

 

Chair Charles Carole called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m.  A quorum was present.

 

1.  Approval of the September 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Rich Kane moved and Pat Blum seconded that the September 19, 2007 meeting minutes be approved as circulated.

Discussion:  Ron Lockwood requested that future minutes include three or four sentences summarizing the presentations provided at the meetings.

The motion carried unanimously.

 

2.  “Assessing the Financial Risks of Major Transit Projects”

Mr. Cliff Slater gave a presentation on the financial risks that should be considered when undertaking a significant transit project, such as the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project.  Mr. Slater presented cost differences between the estimates made during the Alternatives Analysis (AA)/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) process and the actual construction costs for several transit projects in the United States.  Mr. Slater cited sources such as the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Pickerel Report.

 

Discussion Highlights:

[Note:  Unless otherwise specified, questions were answered by Mr. Slater.]

  • In response to a question by Scott Snider:  The cost of the Honolulu fixed guideway project will fall somewhere in the range of $4.1 billion to $7.2 billion; the range should be narrowed down to plus or minus 20 percent.
  • In response to a question by Lorene Godfrey:  Explanations of cost overruns were not given, but the costs have been adjusted to compensate for inflation.  The University of Aalborg study of 258 transit projects around the world gives explanations as to why these projects typically go over budget.
  • In response to a question by Mr. Kane:  The DEIS numbers that are cited in this presentation are from the FTA document that was released in September 2007.
  • In response to a comment by Dale Evans:  The contractors should be less client-focused in their projections.  The Pickerel Report points out that a constant reference point needs to be used when projecting costs for projects. 
  • In response to a series of questions by Arvid Youngquist:  The AA/DEIS numbers are cost projections that were made at the time of the DEIS, adjusted to 2005 dollars.  Costs of extensions to existing lines tend to be more accurately predicted than costs of totally new lines.  Transit use in Hawaii has been declining about 1 percent per year in Hawaii even with the increase in traffic congestion.  Other comparable cities’ experiences should be used to evaluate the viability of fixed guideway in Hawaii.  Mr. Slater indicated that his favorite system, heavy or light rail, is in the New York City due to its high ridership.
  • In response to a question by Mr. Snider:  A discussion of ridership and operating expense would be best addressed at another meeting.  Capital costs are the most significant consideration.
  • In response to a question by Carl Jacobs:  No elevated systems were evaluated in the studies cited in the presentation.
  • In response to a question by David Brown:  No contractors were named in the reports cited, so no correlation to cost overruns could be attributed to any specific contractor.
  • In response to a question by R. Scott Belford:  The FTA considers 20 percent variation in costs to be acceptable.  Voters do not have any impact on the implementation of a project once it is in the final EIS stage. 
  • In response to a question by Alan S. Lloyd:  Each transit station will have park-and-ride, elevators, and escalators.  The stations must be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • In response to a question by Frank Genadio:  There may be people who will give up one car to ride transit.  Only 10 percent of the people will consider giving up a car, so the financial savings enjoyed is very small for most.  Elevated buses would allow for faster door-to-door bus travel without the need for park-and-ride facilities. 
  • A comment offered by Darcianne Evans illustrated the contrast between the implementing agency’s ability to spread information about the project and the average citizen’s limited resources to dispute information that they may feel is not factual. 
  • In response to a question by Mr. Belford:  Because the heavy rail projects are mostly new projects, they tend to land in the upper end of the cost overruns scale.  
  • In response to a question by Randy Ching:  Buses on an elevated guideway could operate twice as quickly than they currently do; eliminating the need to purchase 500 more buses for an elevated busway, as is indicated in the current AA.
  • In response to a question by Mr. Kane:  The FTA has been concerned with cost containment and not necessarily financial risks. 
  • In response to a question by Chair Carole:  The cost estimates for the fixed guideway project will continue to increase as the costs of commodities increase and the value of the U.S. dollar goes down.
  • In response to a question by Chris Dacus:  Construction costs were adjusted for inflation, but not necessarily adjusted for increases in construction costs.

 

5.  OahuMPO Meeting Highlights - Policy Committee & Technical Advisory Committee

There was neither a Policy Committee nor a Technical Advisory Committee meeting held since the CAC last met in September.

·        There is no Technical Advisory Committee meeting scheduled at this time.

·        A Policy Committee meeting is scheduled for October 22, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. in the Hawaii State Capitol Conference Room 309.  At that meeting, it is expected that the Policy Committee will consider five items regarding the CAC:

      1.   Membership request.

      2.   Recommendations on the FY 2009 Overall Work Program.

      3.   Reminder of Public-Private Partnership guidelines.

      4.   Requesting the Policy Committee to urge the Senate Transportation Committee to hold a hearing on House Bill 70, House Draft 3.

      5.   Requesting that the Citizen Advisory Committee Chair sit at the Policy Committee table.

o       The Policy Committee is scheduled to receive a presentation called, “Solutions to Traffic Congestion - Oahu:  Kapolei to UH Corridor”.

 

6.  Announcements

·        Mr. Snider announced that this is his last CAC meeting.  The Hawaii Bicycling League is currently searching for his replacement.

·        Chair Carole announced a public forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters titled, “Rail - Not a Done Deal” that will take place on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at the Hawaii State Capitol, Room 224.

  • Mr. Genadio provided a flyer on the City and County of Honolulu Transit Symposium that will take place on Tuesday, November 13, 2007, 8:00 a.m.-5 p.m., at the Neal Blaisdell Center - Pikake Room.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:31 p.m.