Bill Text: HI HB1388 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Bill 1388 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Transportation; Traffic Congestion Reduction

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [HB1388 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HB1388-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1388
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Chapter

TRANSPORTATION PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

§ -1 Findings. The legislature finds that the State's worsening transportation problems are imposing substantial costs on residents and businesses. Traffic congestion in Hawaii's major metropolitan areas has worsened over time and in relation to comparable metropolitan areas in other states. Traffic congestion diminishes air quality and safety; undermines the State's economic health, its residents' quality of life, and prosperity; and perpetuates poverty. The absence of a specific and concrete plan by the State to address traffic congestion ensures that it will continue to worsen.

The purpose of this Act is to minimize traffic congestion and to contribute to the economic growth of the State and to the well-being and safety of all the State's residents.

§ -2 Traffic congestion reduction objectives. (a) The traffic congestion reduction program shall apply to all counties.

(b) The department of transportation shall adopt an objective to provide freeway and arterial level of service E, as defined in the Highway Capacity Manual 2000 edition of the Transportation Research Board. Level of service E should be expected at ninety-nine per cent of the intersections on all islands while they operate under normal conditions during peak periods of traffic. Effective use of "traffic toolbox" techniques shall be made, including measures such as ramp metering, freeway widening, urban underpasses, and integrated traffic-signal coordination. Capital-intensive measures such as new high-occupancy toll or other managed lanes and tunnels shall also be considered.

(c) The department of transportation shall adopt interim objectives that improve the level of service for at least ten miles of urban arterial streets of freeways per year.

(d) The department of transportation shall propose a cost-effective plan to achieve the long-term and interim objectives at the lowest possible cost. The principal purpose of the plan shall be to identify the roadway resources and strategies that would need to be implemented to achieve the long-term and interim traffic congestion reduction objectives. The plan shall include cost estimates and the cost-per-reduced-delay-hour compared to the status quo case for the achievement of the long-term and interim traffic congestion reduction objectives.

(e) The traffic congestion reduction plan shall not include the use of tolling or road pricing, except for capacity expansion. No lanes currently operating without tolls shall be converted to tolling or road pricing.

(f) To the maximum extent feasible, the department of transportation shall apply a cost-per-delay-hour standard in project evaluation within each of the counties. Costs shall include only actual proposed monetary expenditures by the State or other organizations making actual monetary expenditures with respect to the projects under consideration.

(g) In all project planning, the department of transportation shall consider the cost-per-reduced-delay-hour as a factor in decision-making. The department of transportation shall require the use of the cost-per-delay-hour factor in any major project planning by any authority, agency, or jurisdiction receiving transportation funding from the State. Major projects shall include any project with a projected cost of $10,000,000 or more. While the program is focused appropriately on highway improvements, any improvement that is lower in cost-per-reduced-delay-hour than the highway improvement in the same corridor shall be fundable under this program. All major projects shall be re-evaluated two years after completion to ascertain actual delay improvements and actual benefits and costs.

§ -3 Statewide traffic flow improvement plan. (a) The department of transportation shall provide effective incident management that reduces annual incident congestion delay by at least twenty-five per cent by June 30, 2016.

(b) The plan shall reduce delays caused by congestion on roadways that are scheduled for improvement projects by an average of ten per cent per year.

§ -4 Statewide infrastructure maintenance and improvement program. (a) The program shall maintain annually at least eighty per cent of the State's road surface in acceptable ride quality condition as measured by the International Roughness Index.

(b) The plan shall maintain annually all bridges identified as weight restricted or structurally deficient, or both, so that no adverse effect arises from their safe use by emergency vehicles, school buses, and vehicles serving the area economy.

(c) The plan shall provide for repair of all reported potholes located in roadways within one day of the receipt of notification ninety-eight per cent of the time, except during emergencies and adverse weather.

§ -5 Statewide safety enhancement program. (a) For the period until June 30, 2020, the department of transportation shall reduce the:

(1) Injury rate, as measured by injuries per one hundred million vehicle miles traveled, by an average of two per cent per year; and

(2) Number of injuries by one and one half per cent per year.

(b) Reduce the number of fatalities and the fatality rate. For the period until June 30, 2020, the department of transportation shall reduce the:

(1) Fatality rate, as measured by fatalities per one hundred million vehicle miles traveled, by an average of two per cent per year; and

(2) Number of fatalities by one and one half per cent per year.

(c) The department of transportation shall develop emergency preparedness plans, including regional evacuation plans, to respond to natural disasters, incidents related to homeland security, and serious disruption of major arteries due to infrastructure failure or serious traffic accidents.

§ -6 Partnership with academia. (a) The objectives of this chapter cannot be achieved if there are not enough engineers to carry out the task of improving congestion and transportation. The department of transportation, all the counties, and engineering firms throughout the State have been severely affected by the shortage of engineers for over ten years. Hawaii is the only state without a university transportation research center to engage academic and student engineers with transportation problems.

(b) The department of transportation shall work cooperatively with the college of engineering of the University of Hawaii in the creation of a transportation research center and transportation programs that integrate engineering education with congestion mitigation and safety improvements in the State.

§ -7 Annual reporting. The department of transportation shall submit a written annual report to the legislature, which shall be a public document that shall be posted on the department's internet website and retained for a minimum of twenty-five years."

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2011-2012, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012-2013, to develop and establish a statewide traffic flow improvement plan, statewide infrastructure maintenance and improvement program, and a statewide traffic safety enhancement program.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of transportation for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 2 shall take effect on July 1, 2011.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Transportation; Traffic Congestion Reduction

Description:

Requires the Department of Transportation to implement traffic congestion reduction plans, a statewide traffic flow improvement plan, a statewide infrastructure maintenance and improvement program, and a traffic safety enhancement plan. Requires partnering with academia. Requires annual reports. Effective July 1, 2011.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.