HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

3

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the United states department of transportation to examine the feasibility of constructing a submerged vehicular tunnel under pearl harbor connecting the ewa plain to downtown honolulu.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, traffic congestion from the Ewa plains communities and points farther west is becoming horrendous with the construction of numerous housing developments in Ewa and Kapolei and will only get worse with continued development in those areas; and

 

     WHEREAS, traffic commuting times are seriously deteriorating the quality of life of residents in west Oahu who must commute to work and school in the urban core of Honolulu; and

 

     WHEREAS, to alleviate traffic congestion along the H-1 freeway corridor, a submerged vehicular tunnel could be developed with an western portal on non-federal public lands in the Ewa Beach area, running parallel to the shoreline in Ewa Beach, crossing under the Pearl Harbor channel, running parallel to the Honolulu International Airport reef runway, and emerging at an eastern portal in the vicinity of the airport viaduct and Nimitz Highway interchange; and

 

     WHEREAS, this proposed submerged route should not affect any federal lands or Department of the Navy operations, with the only possible impact being the crossing of the Pearl Harbor channel.  Representatives from the Navy and the Air Force, at a July 28, 2005, meeting with legislators, stated that so long as the tunnel is deep enough and of adequate structural integrity they would entertain the tunnel concept and participate in further discussions to plan such a route since the Navy traverses numerous areas over underwater tunnels on a daily basis; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the United States Department of Transportation is requested to examine the feasibility of constructing a submerged vehicular tunnel under Pearl Harbor connecting the Ewa plain to downtown Honolulu; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Department of Transportation is further requested to include the following in its examination:

 

     (1)  Estimates of the cost of planning, designing, and construction for the proposed route of the submerged vehicular tunnel;

 

     (2)  An estimated time-line for the planning, designing, and construction for the proposed route of the submerged vehicular tunnel;

 

     (3)  Estimates of the tunnel's various impacts, including reductions in travel time; and

 

     (4)  Comments and recommendations from the Department of the Navy; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the United States Secretary of Transportation, the United States Secretary of the Navy, the Governor, Hawaii's congressional delegation, and the State Director of Transportation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Pearl Harbor Underwater Tunnel; U.S. DOT Feasibility Study