Major metropolitan traffic congestion reduction objectives

Haven’t you noticed that when we have a question about traffic congestion the answer is “don’t know” or that “we are working on it”?

One can go on the Internet and find out how congested a street was 10 seconds ago in Athens, Paris, LA, Seattle, Tokyo and many other cities. Unlucky you live Hawaii: You cannot know how much worse congestion has gotten anywhere in Hawaii. I’ll be testifying to the Maui Land Commission next month and I can’t tell them how much congestion changed on Piilani Hwy. between 2004 and 2006. Do we have infrastructure to do this at several locations in Hawaii? Yes! Do we do much with it? No!

First, let’s measure congestion, then publish the findings, devise solutions, evaluate and prioritize actions, build them and monitor their performance. Re-visit, as necessary in the future, to maintain good operations. Neither Oahu Metropolitian Planning Organization not Hawai Department of Transportation currently do this.

Statewide traffic flow improvement plan

Set engineering performance-based targets for congestion relief. Without specific targets, funds are expended on projects of questionable worth which get done 10 or more years after they are needed.

Statewide infrastructure maintenance and improvement program

Set specifics for pavement quality. If specifics such as those proposed are in place, then funds cannot be diverted to beautification projects while infrastructure crumbles. A good example is Mayor Harris’ neglect of pavements. A standard is also good as a goal. There may be years when the standard cannot be met due to fiscal constraints, but the standard is there to offer a goal for catching up. What’s the standard for prioritizing pavement repairs and highway maintenance now?

Statewide safety enhancement program

Basically, the only way one can get safety information in Hawaii is when the Honolulu Advertiser invokes the Freedom of Information Act and forces DOT and HPD to turn over accident records. Then decision makers formulate policies based on newspaper articles.

A friend and stellar engineer in Hawaii DOT calls this a policy making process that is based on “data-free analysis.” An example is the Legislature’s effort to curb pedestrian accidents by focusing exclusively on motorists whereas in the overwhelming number of fatalities that occurred in 2006, the main cause of the accident were actions taken by the pedestrian.

There is an appalling dearth of proper engineering analysis and research in Hawaii. Both traffic congestion and traffic safety are engineering problems. Hawaii tries to solve them with hasty legislation based on data-free analysis.

Partnership with academia

Hawaii is in the tiny minority of states that do not have a University Transportation Research Center and the reason for this is that the Legislature has repeatedly refused to fund the 50% match required by federal acts ISTEA, TEA-21 and now SAFETEA-LU. The states without UTCR simply do not have transportation problems of any significance or special difficulty (e.g., Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Alaska and Maine.)

We are the only island state in the nation with about 10% of the de facto population consisting of unfamiliar visitors; and we are exposed to unusual risks like a combination of high winds, torrential rains, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes. Honolulu is the most lane deficient metropolitan area in the union; at the very bottom of all and worse than San Juan, Puerto Rico. We must use local expertise to address our unique traffic and freight issues.

Nobody is working on true engineered solutions for the state’s traffic and transportation problems. Most other states do. Here is a passage from the State of Washington UTRC: Washington State Transportation Research Center (TRAC) is a cooperative transportation research agency. Its members, the Washington State University (WSU), the University of Washington (UW), and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), support TRAC to coordinate both state and commercial transportation research efforts and to develop research opportunities nationally and locally. We maintain offices at both universities.

Summary

There are no conflicts among the modest accountability standards and guidance stated in this bill, and the routine tasks of OMPO and the State DOT. There is nothing in this bill that goes contrary to Federal objectives. This bill should be heard and passed. The main reason for opposing this bill is to maintain the status quo which has consistently resulted in worsening traffic congestion and accelerating rate of traffic-related deaths.

Finally, this could have come at a better time: Californians fed up with congestion and poor pavements, and the billions spent on rail transit that is empty 20 hours a day but wastes funds and energy doing no productive work

See http://yeson1aand1b.com/documents/Transportation_Crisis.pdf

Panos D. Prevedouros, PhD a Professor of Transportation Engineering at the University of Hawaii-Manoa; the President of the Hawaii Highway Users Alliance and a Subcommittee Chair, Freeway Operations, National Research Council.

HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

Guest Commentary...