December Meeting
The December meeting was held on December 1, 2011 at CH2M HILL. The guest speakers were Mr. Ken Tatsuguchi – Planning Branch Manager, Hawaii DOT Highways Division and Ms. Cheryl Yoshida – Project Manager, CH2M HILL.
The State of Hawaii Department of Transportation is in the process of developing Best Practices for Traffic Impact Reports. The Best Practices will provide guidance on the “what, when, why and how” to conduct a TIR for developments affecting State transportation facilities. It will aid in ensuring greater consistency, efficiency and equity in measures required to mitigate impacts to the transportation system, and allow for consistent and transparent decisions. Ken Tatsuguchi and Cheryl Yoshida provided an overview of the Best Practices guidance.
Mr. Tatsuguchi is the Planning Branch Manager for the Hawaii DOT Highways Division. He is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, College of Engineering and has been a highway engineer, planner and transit specialist for the HDOT for over 20 years. One of the functions of Ken’s group is to administer the review and acceptance of Traffic Impact Reports affecting any state transportation facility.
Ms. Yoshida is the consultant project manager for the development of the Best Practices for Traffic Impact Reports. She has worked as a transportation planner/engineer for over 18 years in both Washington and Hawaii.
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October Meeting
The October meeting was held on October 26, 2011 at the Municipal Building. The guest speaker was Mr. Jiro Sumada – Deputy Director, City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting.
Jiro A. Sumada spoke about DPP’s concerns. Mr. Sumada was born in Līhu‘e and raised in Hilo. He graduated from Hilo High School, continuing his formal education at the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Hawai‘i, Manoa. Following a short career in the military, Mr. Sumada held various public and private positions. This includes most recently Deputy Director of Public Works for the County of Hawai‘i and Deputy Director of Highways Division for HDOT.
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September Meeting
The September meeting was held on September 28, 2011 at the Municipal Building. The guest speaker was Mr. John Logan, PE, FITE – Chair of Expert Witness Council of ITE.
The Expert Witness Council of ITE is a group of about 500 members who strive for our nation’s highways to be the safest and most efficient in the world. The members are expert witnesses for the legal profession on matters of highway design and transportation safety. The ITE Hawai‘i Section presently has 2 members of the EWC.
John Logan is chair of the EWC and is halfway through his term of office. John has been on the EWC board for past 20 years. He is also past president of the Washington Section. He has
had his own consulting firm in Seattle for 20 years with major focus on teaching Transportation Engineering short courses for the University of Washington and expert witness. He has been a member of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) which advises Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on writing the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) since 1981.
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August Meeting
The August meeting was held on August 31, 2011 at the Municipal Building. The guest speaker was Ms. Laura Dierenfield – Executive Director, PATH (Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii).
“PATH is a community-based, grassroots organization founded in 1986. PATH works in partnership with organizations across the state and the county to make it safe, fun and easy to walk, hike, ride a bike and live a healthy, active lifestyle in Hawai‘i.”
Laura Dierenfield was born and raised in Kona, Hawai‘i and has served as PATH’s executive director since September 2008. She shared the PATH advocacy efforts going on statewide including funding for new bike and pedestrian projects, and the progress of planning initiatives such as the Pedestrian Master Plan and “Safe Routes to School” program.
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July Meeting Summary
The July meeting was held on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, at SSFM International. Cathy Leong reported on the ITE Distrcit 6 annual meeting which she attended in Anchorage, Alaska. The University of Hawai‘i ITE student chapter was awarded Honorable Mention for their website. Cathy presented Alyx Yu, the UH ITE student chapter Vice President, with the award and $50 check from ITE District 6. Our featured speaker for the July meeting was Wayne Yoshioka, Director of the City and County of Honolulu, Department of Transportation Services (DTS). He provided an overview of the transition from Rapid Transit Division (RTD) to Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART), the Joint Traffic Management Center and Active Traffic Management, Complete Streets for Honolulu, and the future direction for transportation engineers and planners.
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May Meeting Summary
The May Meeting was held on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, at the Frank Fasi City Municipal Building. Brian Goldstein, Global Development Executive with Better Place shared his company’s vision and plans for creating an electric car charging network in Hawaii. Better Place is the world’s leading electric car network provider, working with governments, businesses and energy companies to accelerate the global transition to sustainable transportation. In addition to Hawaii, the company has also signed agreements to build electric vehicle infrastructure – a widespread network of battery recharging points and battery swap stations – in Israel, Denmark, Australia and California’s Bay Area.
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April Meeting Summary
The April Meeting was held on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, at Wilson Okamoto Corporation. Earl Matsukawa, director of the Planning Consulting Group at Wilson Okamoto Corporation presented on the Kona Community Development Plan. The Kona CDP was developed for the County of Hawaii Planning Department to guide future development of the North and South Kona Districts of Hawaii County, the fastest growing region of the island. The foundation of the Kona CDP was established through a broad community outreach process that encouraged participants to express their collective vision and take ownership of the plan. Adopted by ordinance, the plan has numerous enforceable policies, including Geographic Information System (GIS) databases that graphically represent enforceable policies such as land use and transportation. The course it charts is performance based, articulating specific actions, identifying responsible implementer(s) and specifying completion timelines. The CDP gives detail to the elements address by the General Plan, such as economy, energy, environmental quality, flooding and natural hazards, historic sites, natural beauty, natural resources and shoreline, housing, public facilities, public utilities, recreation, transportation, and land use.
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March Meeting Summary
The March Meeting was held on Monday, Mar. 28, 2011, at SSFM International Offices. Complete Streets is a nation-wide movement designed to assure that our streets are for all users in terms of safety, accessibility, and mobility. Hawaii is number one in terms of pedestrian deaths per 100,000 population of people 60 years and older. New construction, remediation, and maintenance all provide opportunities to make our streets more complete than they are currently. Tom Dinell is the founder of the Urban and Regional Planning Department at UHM, where he currently teaches an introductory planning course and a housing course. He is also a planning consultant, working currently with John M. Knox and Associates and firms performing planning work for Maui County. Jackie Boland has worked for AARP since 1993 in a variety of capacities with her primary focus on grass roots organizing and public education. Key issue areas for her work include Health and Long-term Care, Transportation, Financial Security, and Housing. Jackie has a B.A. from the Evergreen State College.
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February Meeting Summary
The February Meeting was held on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011, at the Frank Fasi City Municipal Building. The Aiea-Pearl City TOD neighborhood planning process determined a preferred alternative for rail stations along the Farrington Highway and Kamehameha Highway corridor. This study provided an overview of the transportation implications of the preferred alternative for each station and how they compare to each other. Wes Frysztacki, President of Weslin Consulting Services, Inc, presented upon some of the transportation recommendations in the public review draft of the Aiea-Pearl City Neighborhood TOD Plan. He also provided examples of the types of international best practices that were included in the technical memorandum of the transportation assessment.
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January Meeting Summary
The January Meeting was held on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 at the Frank Fasi City Municipal Building. For the January 26th meeting, Professor Papacostas gave a presentation on FHWA’s new efficiency initiative called “Every Day Counts”. Professor Papacostas attended a meeting in early November per invitation by the Deputy Director of the Federal Highway Administration, in which this new initiative was unveiled. As UH Mânoa’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Chair and Director of Hawai‘i’s Local Technical Assistance Program, he also gave updates as to the status of each of these in the new year.
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