A local advocacy group is calling on the state Department of Transportation to spend more of its budget building out alternatives to cars.
Hawaiʻi Appleseed released a report late last year that examines how HDOT spent its dollars between fiscal years 2019-2024. Its analysis determined that the agency spent almost two-thirds of its budget for capital improvement on projects that “increase vehicle transportation.”
That’s compared to less than 2% of its capital improvement budget on projects that provide alternatives, like bike lanes and pedestrian walkways.
Abbey Seitz, one of the authors of the report, said this pattern of spending leads to a system that is over-dependent on cars, which leads to more traffic, higher emissions, and fewer options for people who don’t drive.
Moving forward, Appleseed is calling on HDOT to adjust its budget to invest more in transportation alternatives.
But HDOT Director Ed Sniffen disagreed with the analysis. He thought that Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s assessment of what kinds of projects increase vehicle capacity is too broad.
“They considered anything that touched the road that didn't call out specifically a bike or a pedestrian path or transit project as capacity building,” Sniffen said when asked about the report’s findings.
“They took out the neutral projects… stormwater and the like, but anything that touched the road otherwise was a capacity project for them,” he said.
Sniffen estimated that closer to 21% of the department’s capital improvement budget went toward vehicle capacity increases. He said he believes that some of those projects will reduce the time people spend in their vehicles in the long run.
Sniffen pointed out that on Oʻahu, jobs are concentrated in downtown Honolulu, but many people lack the means to live in the island’s urban center, and thus commute into town for work.
He said HDOT is working to build out infrastructure to incentivize business on other parts of the island, so that people can work and shop closer to where they live.
“Although there were lane increases that give us more access into Kalaeloa and Kapolei, there are long-term investments to ensure that we minimize [vehicle miles travel] when we start increasing populations in those areas,” Sniffen said.
He also stated that about 75% of the department’s budget went toward reconstructing existing roadways in poor or mid-condition, maintenance he said was necessary to help a 20th-century system keep up with 21st-century demand.
When Oʻahu’s transportation system was built in the 1960s, Sniffen said it was designed to support 60,000 to 90,000 vehicles in total. Now, the system contends with 270,000 vehicles going through different corridors every day.
“For us, the priority has always been… preservation of the system and safety for all users of the system,” Sniffen said.
Seitz said she understood Sniffen’s perspective, but still felt HDOT’s spending reinforced a status quo built around driving. She contended that any new roads, even those with enhancements like bike paths or walkways, increase vehicle capacity.
“We were really looking for dedicated funds for standalone projects that reduced vehicle travel and provided mobility options for those who do not drive,” Seitz said.
One of the report's policy recommendations is to put more funding toward the Safe Routes to School Program, which works to create safer ways for kids to get to school by bicycle or on foot.
The program was eliminated during the pandemic, but lawmakers recently revived it. HDOT is asking for the state to release more than $13 million associated with the program, but Seitz would like to see it get additional dedicated funding.
Seitz said she hopes the report will help shift the conversation so that people who get around using any means other than personal vehicles aren’t an “afterthought.”
Sniffen said he supports funding more transportation choices.
“But with the funding that we have right now, it'd be very difficult to take care of the maintenance needs of the system as it is,” he said.
He added that those maintenance needs will grow in the coming years not just as a result of new roads, but also due to new bike paths and transit options.
“We have $67 million in projects for new shared-use paths, bike paths and pedestrian paths that are coming up,” he said.
The Department of Transportation is also expected to release a greenhouse gas reduction plan, one of the settlement terms of the Navahine lawsuit, in May. Sniffen said that report will lay out plans to create a “continuous system” of bike and pedestrian paths throughout the state.
