Redouble fixes of bad state roads

Hawaii’s state-maintained road system ranks near the bottom while spending money on it is near the top, according to a new study of the nation’s highways. With serious economic problems having passed, the state — and the city — must redouble efforts in efficiency and make road repairs that last.

The study by the Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report has found that Hawaii’s road system, the nation’s smallest, is among those in the worst condition. The study reports that none of its roads totaling 1,011 miles were in poor condition in 1989 but 27 percent were in bad shape in 2009, more than five times the national average and worst in the country by a long shot.

Both the city and state officials had put off street and highway maintenance in recent years to pay for other projects, an unfortunate choice in deferred maintenance that has allowed conditions to deteriorate.

The city now is headed toward nearly doubling what it spends for repairs of its 1,520 lane-miles of city streets — mostly neighborhood roads in the worse shape — in the next five years. That needs to change also at the state level, which is responsible for Oahu’s major arteries, including H-1, H-2 and Pali Highway.

THE STUDY by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian organization, found that Hawaii underperformed the U.S. average in most categories of roads in 2009, despite spending nearly seven times the national average per mile in administrative costs, more than triple the average in construction costs and double the average in maintenance. The DOT disputes the study’s estimate that $79,000 per mile was spent on administrative costs, maintaining that the actual expense was less than half that: it cites 2012 expenses for 949 miles of state highway that calculates out to about $35,860 per mile.

Hawaii transportation officials have pointed to state leaders’ decision to divert more than $143 million between 1996 and 2003 from the Highways Special Fund to the state’s general fund, and the state is still trying to catch up with needed repairs. Lawmakers need to cease and desist from raiding special funds for purposes not intended, and House Finance Chairwoman Rep. Sylvia Luke’s vow for more stringency in using or culling out special funds next session should go a long way toward transparency and truth in budgeting.

THE REASON STUDY found that the overall condition of state-owned highway systems across the country were in the best shape ever, but sadly, that was not the case in Hawaii.

DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter acknowledges that serious improvement of roads is needed and the department is moving forward. She said the department recently sent out to bid on an "H-1 rehabilitation" project estimated at $42 million from the area of Middle Street to the vicinity of Ward Avenue.

She said the department will seek bids early next year on an innovative project on Middle Street from Kamehameha Highway to King Street, involving pre-cast slabs of concrete instead of relying on asphalt. The state has received a federal grant to pay entirely for the project.

"The benefit of this is that the concrete is cured away from the site reducing the time needed to close lanes," she said. "When repairs are needed to be done, old sections can be hoisted out and near sections placed in, again reducing overall time that lanes need to be closed."

It is innovation such as this that the state, and city, bureaucrats must constantly be seeking out and using to improve efficiency, savings and durability.

Sluyter said the DOT has "quite a long list of projects on practically every major corridor coming up in the next couple years," pointing out that will require lane closures. Commuters should tolerate those delays, especially for installation of concrete slabs and other improvements that will result in sturdier roads and highways.