State offers online map of road projects

Hawaii residents can stay up-to-date on more than 170 highway and road projects with a new interactive online map unveiled this week by the state Department of Transportation.

The map lists work that’s either planned or underway across the islands — such as guardrail improvements and resurfacing along Farrington Highway in Waianae, or sidewalk and safety upgrades along Kalanianaole Highway in Waimanalo.

The map resembles a similar tool on the city’s Design and Construction Department web page, where residents can get a general idea of when city-owned streets in their area will be paved next.

The projects on the state’s map reflect a continued strategy to spend most of its new highway dollars on preserving existing roadways, DOT spokeswoman Shelly Kunishige said Wednesday.

In February 2016, DOT Deputy Director for Highways Ed Sniffen said his division was spending 80 percent of new dollars on existing roads’ upkeep and 20 percent on so-called “capacity upgrades,” which include building new roads and widening existing ones. On Tuesday, Kunishige said that ratio has widened to an approximately 90 percent versus 10 percent split.

Crumbling roads remain a hot topic on Oahu, and many of the state’s major resurfacing efforts — including work on the Pali and Farrington highways and Ala Moana Boulevard — appear on the map under the “Future Projects” tab.

DOT enacted a “pavement preventative maintenance program” in 2016, Kunishige said, which involves using sealants in an effort to extend the life of Oahu’s state-owned roads.

It remains unclear whether DOT has started using the pavement-management software it purchased, Paver, as part of that new program. In early 2016, state transportation leaders said they were still using Excel electronic spreadsheets to manage their road-resurfacing effort, even though a national pavement consultant recommended they upgrade nearly eight years earlier.

To view the map, visit hidot.hawaii.gov, select “Highways” from the “Home” menu. Then, select “Major Projects” and click on “Project Map.”