HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

32

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE  RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, IN COOPERATION WITH COUNTY GOVERNMENTS, TO DEVELOP A PLAN FOR THE REGULAR MAINTENANCE OF ROADS IN LIMBO.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, as documented in the Legislative Reference Bureau's 1989 study, "Roads in Limbo: an Analysis of the State‑County Jurisdictional Dispute," jurisdictional disputes over road ownership and the concomitant lack of adequate repairs and maintenance have plagued relations between the Territory and State and the counties for many years; and

 

     WHEREAS, county governments began in 1905, and only eight years later, in 1913, a legislative committee declared that "[e]ver since the beginning of county government ... there has been a great deal of confusion in regard to streets, roads, etc.", and it proposed as a solution transferring all jurisdiction to the county boards of supervisors to "do away with all the confusion and conflict of authority."; and

 

     WHEREAS, however, this and other attempts to solve the problem did not succeed, and for decades tension remained between the Territory (and then State) and the counties over ownership and responsibility of roads, with many roads falling into limbo; and

 

     WHEREAS, the situation in the County of Hawaii was even more complicated than in other counties due to its size and the propensity for roads to be created by public use, i.e., hikers creating a trail that became a lane that grew into a road, without governmental knowledge or planning; and

 

     WHEREAS, this lack of clarity of ownership and jurisdiction which was experienced in all four counties, continued until the 1990s, when the State and the counties began to come to agreement on ownership, maintenance, design, and repair on the disputed roads; and


     WHEREAS, recently, the County of Hawaii has made it a priority to inventory all of the roads under its jurisdiction to identify the roads and determine the cost of any needed improvements; and

 

WHEREAS, the legislature finds that the State and counties must come to an arrangement for maintenance of these contested roadways to ensure the safety of residents of the State while driving on these roadways; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the Department of Transportation, in cooperation with county governments through a written memorandum of understanding, is requested to develop a plan for the regular maintenance of these roads in limbo; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the plan shall include the identification, by county, of all such roads, the physical condition of these roads, and a proposed budget to meet repair and maintenance costs, including sources of funding; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation shall submit the plan to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2008; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation and the Mayors and Council Chairs of each county.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Department of Transportation to develop a plan for the regular maintenance or maintenance of roads in limbo in cooperation with County governments.