Minutes of the

Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization

POLICY COMMITTEE

Friday, September 2, 2005, 1:00 p.m.

Hawaii State Capitol, Room 309

415 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, Hawaii

Members Present:
Representative Marilyn Lee, Chair	Representative Mark Moses
Councilmember Todd Apo, Vice Chair	Representative Joseph Souki
Councilmember Romy Cachola	Senator Will Espero
Councilmember Ann Kobayashi	Senator Brian Kanno
Councilmember Gary Okino	Edward Hirata, DTS Director

Members Absent: Councilmember Charles Djou, Senator Lorraine Inouye, Rodney Haraga (DOT Director)

Guests Present:
Dennis Galolo (Clmbr Cachola staff)	Charles Carole (NB #10, CAC, Vice Chair)
Francisco Figueiredo (Clmbr Djou staff)	Joseph Magaldi (Committee for Balanced
Maigee Chang (Senator Inouye staff)	Transportation, CAC, Chair)
Robert Sato (Clmbr Okino staff)	Donald Nitta (NB #14, CAC)
Brian Suzuki (DTS)	David Lemon (NB #21, CAC)
Alfred Tanaka (DTS)	Pamela Young (NB #35, CAC)
Abraham Wong (FHWA)	Richard Kane (Pacific Resource Partnership, CAC)
Laura Thielen (DBEDT-OP)	Michael Costa (Teamsters Local 996, CAC)
CC Curry (ICCO, CAC)	L. Gary Bautista (NB #23)
Paul Schwind (LURF, CAC)	Dick Kaku, Kaku Associates
Darwin Hamamoto (LOTMA, CAC)

OMPO Staff Present: Gordon Lum (Executive Director), Shevaun Low, Michelle Kurisu, Pamela Toyooka

 Chair Marilyn Lee called the meeting to order at 1:06 p.m. A quorum was present.

I. MINUTES OF THE JULY 20, 2005 MEETING

There being no changes, the minutes of the July 20, 2005 meeting were approved as read.

II. CAC CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION

Certificates of appreciation were awarded to the following CAC member organizations as a means of acknowledging their commitment to and participation in the transportation planning process. The Policy Committee members presented the certificates. The names shown in italics are the organizations’ representatives who were present to receive their organization’s certificate.

• American Society of Civil Engineers
• Eye of the Pacific
• Interagency Coordination Councils Organization (CC Curry)
• Land Use Research Foundation (Paul Schwind)
• Leeward Oahu Transportation Management Association (Darwin Hamamoto)
• Waialae-Kahala Neighborhood Board #3
• Makiki-Lower Punchbowl-Tantalus Neighborhood Board #10 (Charles Carole)
• Liliha-Alewa-Puunui-Kamehameha Heights Neighborhood Board #14 (Donald Nitta)
• Pearl City Neighborhood Board #21 (David Lemon)
• Waipahu Neighborhood Board #22
• Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board #34
• Mililani Mauka-Launani Valley Neighborhood Board #35 (Pamela Young)

[Councilmember Romy Cachola arrived at 1:12 p.m., during the presentation.]

III. OAHU REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN
[Representative Mark Moses arrived at 1:15 p.m.]

III.A. Strategic Plan Alternatives

Dick Kaku of Kaku Associates, OMPO’s Oahu Regional Transportation Plan (ORTP) consultant, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Strategic Plan Alternatives.

 Discussion & Comments

Mr. Kaku gave the following responses to questions posed by the members (members’ last names in parentheses):

• (Moses) For the rail concept, general assumptions were made – including alignments, station locations, and bus feeder routes. It was also assumed that the system would be grade-separated in order to maintain a 30 mile per hour (mph) average speed (end-to-end).
• (Kanno) The station-to-station speed would be about 50 mph.
• (Souki) Only alternatives that are specifically designed to get people out of their cars (such as bus, rail, ferry, and carpool) and into some other form of travel will reduce traffic.
• (Souki/Okino) The concept that is most effective at reducing average auto travel time on the island is the Pearl Harbor tunnel concept. This concept consists of a 6-lane tunnel under Pearl Harbor where a toll is charged. While the results are significant, in that the average travel time for Kapolei to Downtown is reduced, it has little effect on reducing travel time for people traveling into Downtown from other parts of the island.
  
  The analysis that was done to this point shows how each concept would perform based on a diverse set of performance measures. Depending on which performance measure is used, a comparison between concepts can be made.
• (Okino) The results presented for each of the four concepts incorporate employment and population forecasts for 2030. In the case of the Pearl Harbor tunnel concept, travelers from the Leeward Coast and Ewa are expected to utilize the tunnel, with Pearl City and Mililani traffic using the H-1.
• (Okino) In the rail concept, there are fewer improvements to H-1. As a result, the rail concept had the greatest transit ridership and greatest reduction in trips made by automobiles, vehicle miles traveled, and vehicle hours traveled.
• (Espero) For the Pearl Harbor tunnel and bridge concepts, it was assumed that both the tunnel and bridge would be toll facilities – a toll would be charged for their use.
• (Espero) No funding mechanisms have been looked at for any of the concepts; this is something that will be done in the next phase.
• (Espero) The number of vehicles per hour during peak hours was looked at for both the Pearl Harbor tunnel and bridge. The tunnel and the bridge were tested with the assumption that the toll would be $2 in each direction. In both cases, the travel models forecasted that the demand would be high enough where the capacity of both facilities would be reached and a toll higher than $2 should be considered.
• (Kanno) For the purposes of evaluation, a six-lane Pearl Harbor tunnel was used because the volume of traffic was so high.
• (Kanno/Cachola) The assumption for the tunnel endpoints is that it begins at Fort Weaver Road (vicinity Iroquois Point Road), goes under Pearl Harbor, and accesses H-1 at the Hickam/Pearl Harbor interchange.
• (Cachola) With the Pearl Harbor tunnel concept, once traffic from the tunnel merges onto H-1, travel speed is likely to be lower than what it is in 2005.
• (Okino) The tunnel’s impact on the Middle Street-Nimitz Highway bottleneck and the commuters coming from areas such as Aiea, Pearl City, and Waipahu were taken into consideration during the analysis.
• (Cachola) The tunnel is the best alternative for lowering vehicle hours of delay. However, it is not the most cost-effective alternative; and it doesn’t help reduce the vehicle miles traveled.
• (Cachola) The next step in the process will be to refine the analysis of the alternatives, select the preferred projects, and come up with a proposed improvement plan.

Gordon Lum noted that, as in prior ORTP studies, it is likely that the 2030 ORTP will consist of a multitude of project solutions from each of the four concepts presented, including both highway and transit projects. Mr. Lum also noted that the biggest challenge facing the Policy Committee will be to financially constrain the list of projects.

III.B. September Community Meetings

Mr. Kaku gave a PowerPoint presentation on the upcoming round of September community meetings.

 Discussion & Comments

• In response to Representative Joseph Souki, Mr. Kaku stated that the “negative incentives approach” is one of many programs that are part of Transportation Demand Management and Transportation Systems Management (TDM/TSM). An example of TSM would be the use of reversible lanes. An example of TDM would be to give incentives to encourage people to carpool or telecommute. Examples of negative TDM incentives would be to increase the cost of parking fees and gas taxes.
• Because Ewa Beach is the fastest growing area on Oahu, Senator Will Espero requested a 4 th community meeting in the Ewa area. Senator Kanno voiced his support for having a meeting in Ewa.
• In reference to the PowerPoint presentation given at the community meetings, Councilmember Cachola suggested that, on the last slide of the Performance Evaluation Results Summary, the subtitle “Costs/Funding” be changed to “Funding”. The inclusion of the word costs would be misleading, since the consultant will not present cost figures.
• Noting that the questionnaire should be more user-friendly, Senator Kanno offered the following suggestions to the questionnaire:
• Under Regional Perspective
• People should be asked to rank their top 6 choices, rather than just picking 6 choices.
• Under Islandwide Emphasis Projects
• Remove the Waimea Bay 2 nd Access project from the list, because this is a neighborhood road; so it would not address islandwide traffic.
• Add to the Kunia Road project description “widen Schofield to H‑1/Farrington Highway”.
• Replace “Pier 19” in the Intra-Island Commuter Ferry project description with “close to Downtown”.
• Under H-1 Corridor Emphasis Projects
• Revise the description of the “Nimitz Flyover” project with “Nimitz Elevated Roadway”. Clarify the description for the Kamehameha Highway project to find out if people support the widening of Kamehameha Highway through Kipapa Gulch.
• Replace references to “Iroquois Point” with “Ewa/Iroquois Point” for both the Pearl Harbor Tunnel/Bridge projects.
• Under Neighborhood Perspective, remove the examples provided in the description. Add a question that asks the public to identify the projects that they are opposed to.
• In the About You section, under the question “What means of transportation do you use to go to school or work?”, add a carpool or vanpool option.
• In response to the suggestions from Senator Kanno and Councilmember Cachola, Mr. Lum stated these would be incorporated where possible.
• Councilmember Cachola asked how much weight would be given to the questionnaires, since the results would be different, depending on where the meetings are held. Mr. Lum responded that the weights given the public input will be determined by the Policy Committee, since the committee will ultimately select the projects in the ORTP and endorse the pla n. In addition, a second home telephone survey will address the general population’s opinions. Where the data can be broken down by area and still be significant, it will be presented to the committee.

Chair Lee asked that the following be considered: 1) the suggested changes to the community meeting presentation and the questionnaire; and 2) holding a 4 th meeting in Ewa.

 IV. RESPONSIBILITY FOR NOTIFYING PUBLIC OF LEGISLATIVE AND COUNCIL BILLS

The Policy Committee discussed the issue of identifying OMPO’s responsibility with regards to notifying the public on Legislative and Council bills. Mr. Lum stated that public notice for legislative and council bills are already provided by the State Legislature and City Council, respectively. OMPO could not respond to modifications to bills and hearings as timely as the State Legislature and City Council.

Representative Moses moved and Vice Chair Todd Apo seconded that OMPO create a link from its website to the websites of the State Legislature and City Council to notify the public of Legislative and Council bills.

  Senator Kanno suggested having a resource person available to give highlights of key legislation on transportation matters to members of the CAC.

  Vice Chair Apo noted the difficulty of OMPO having to promise that it will be able to accurately update the public on current legislative and council bills on a regular basis. He added that OMPO would bring bills relevant to OMPO’s areas of responsibilities to the attention of the CAC.

Mr. Lum said highlights of key legislation can be presented to the CAC at its monthly meetings by the appropriate legislative or council member, or departmental representatives. The CAC agendas are set by the CAC Chair.

  Representative Souki expressed his concern that this discussion was moving away from providing access to the legislative and council websites, and towards OMPO imposing responsibilities on the State Legislature and City Council.

At the request of Senator Kanno, Representative Moses amended his motion to add OMPO’s continued commitment to pass on significant information on transportation matters to the CAC. The motion passed with nine votes in favor, zero votes against, and one abstention.

V. OTHER BUSINESS (ANNOUNCEMENTS ONLY)

V.A. Pearl Harbor Tunnel Presentation and Discussion

Chair Lee announced that a taped presentation and discussion on a Pearl Harbor Tunnel will be shown on Oceanic Cable 54 at 7:30 p.m., every Sunday during the month of September.

V.B. Evening Zipper Lane

On behalf of Rodney Haraga, Chair Lee announced that the evening zipper lanes would be opening soon.

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:43 p.m.