Letters on the Toll Road Debate

The recent op-eds by Rep. Lee and Rep. Cabanilla on the issue of transportation privatization, particularly toll roads, have sparked some letters to the editor of note:

This in the Star-Bulletin:

Think hard before privatizing roads
Thank you for the sobering and hard-nosed opinion piece from Rep. Marilyn Lee about the troubling trend toward privatizing roads (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 2). She reports that New Jersey's Gov. Jon Corzine, after many months of study, declared that he would not sell off his state's roads to a private operator.
Before becoming governor, Corzine headed Goldman Sachs, a company that has collected tens of millions of dollars arranging road privatization deals for other states. From the financial point of view, arguably nobody knows more than Corzine about road privatization. His actions with his own budget speak louder than any words and should give pause to any legislator considering these road sell-offs.

Phineas Baxandall
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Boston, Mass.

And this in The Advertiser:

TOLL ROAD BILL SHOULD GET HEARING IN SENATE
Sen. Kalani English's words in his commentary, "Superferry: Debate is healthy, necessary" (Nov. 27), contradict his behavior with regard to House Bill 70. His closing words are: "And as the task force created by the Superferry bill performs its mandated review of ferry operations, I hope there will always be room for discussion and diversity of opinion."
And yet, look at the senator's behavior in the 2007 legislative session. HB 70, which would authorize the state to charge tolls on highways, was passed by the House. However, when it crossed over to the Senate, Sen. English, as chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, refused to allow it to be heard.
Further, when Rep. Rida Cabanilla asked the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization to request that the senator reconsider his squelching of the bill, he objected vehemently. In a letter to OMPO, he criticized Rep. Cabanilla, saying that she was interfering with Senate business, and, in a real stretch, cited the Law of the Splintered Paddle as "justification" for not allowing the bill to even be considered by the Senate.
Some would use the term "hypocrisy" to describe the senator's behavior regarding HB 70, while he purports to encourage debate, discussion and diversity of opinion.
Let's hope for the sake of the public that the good senator has a change of heart in the 2008 legislative session, and allows HB 70 to be heard, debated and discussed in the Senate.

Randy Leong
Honolulu

Toll House Debate

Well, they are two sharp cookies, but we're actually talking about the point, counter-point on the discussion of toll roads and privatization of transportation.

Representative Marilyn Lee (District 38 - Mililani, Mililani Mauka) has an op-ed in Sunday's Honolulu

Star-Bulletin questioning the public policy of establishing toll roads and of introducing privatization into our state transportation system. She states: "Some would argue that this

 path is necessary because neither the state nor the counties have sufficient funds to build more highways. U.S. PIRG cautions that through such deals, the public loses control of transportation policy, and there is no guarantee that toll roads will deliver their promised value. The report cites such problems as an inability to prevent toll traffic from being diverted to local 

communities and difficulty changing traffic patterns on toll roads without paying additional compensati

on to road operators. The U.S. PIRG report also notes the difficulty of ensuring fair contracts when they stretch over multiple generations and changing community needs."

Representative Rida Cabanilla-Arakawa (District 42 - Waipahu, West Loch, Ewa) has an op-ed in today's Honolulu Advertiser advocating for toll roads as a means to alleviate traffic congestion, especially on the 

Leeward side of Oahu. She states: " With the toll concept, once the contractor has been paid off through toll collection, the road can then become a free road. It is no different from the "fly now, pay later" concept. The best part of this concept, why it is so successful and catching on like wildfire across the country and world, is that only the end user pays. The public roads will still be there for those who do not want to pay. Even they will still benefit from it, because the free road will be less congested. The savings on fuel and the amount of time spent behind the wheel are very attractive to consumers."

Are toll roads the answer? Rep. Cabanilla's bill, HB70, was introduced in 2007 and crossed over to the Senate. It awaits a hearing.

Using cane haul roads to alleviate highway closures

On Wednesday night, the H-1 near the airport viaduct was closed for over 6 hours, from 7:45 p.m. to 2:10 a.m., due to a one-car crash. In the future, highway closure time could be shortened, and the impact to motorists alleviated, due to HB1608, signed into law as Act 141, introduced by freshman Rep. Angus McKelvey. McKelvey's District 10 on Maui includes Lahaina, Kaanapali, Kapalua and Kihei, and is an area where there is one way in and one way out. A traffic emergency and road closure puts this district in jeopardy.

The bill gives authority to the Governor, the state Director of Transportation, the 4 county Mayors and the county Directors of Transportation, to designate an area as a "traffic emergency zone". This is defined as an area that is accessible by only one state highway, and the public health and safety would be endangered by the closure of the highway due to a traffic accident, natural disaster, or other emergency. The bill allows the state or county to designate the old cane haul roads as a temporary state highway and indemnifies the owner of the cane haul road from liability. The cane haul roads were once an important transportation system for Hawaii at a time when our state's economy was driven by agriculture. They now have the potential to be an important part of the state's emergency traffic plan.