Aloha! Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou! I truly hope that you and your loved ones had a joyous and blessed holiday season and that this New Year will be safe and prosperous for you all. I’d like acknowledge and thank Patty Teruya, Maeda Timson, and Joy Wilson for their untiring efforts in making the Kapolei Holiday Light Parade and tree lighting ceremony on December 8th one of the most memorable festivities ever. It was great to have the mayor and members of the undefeated UH Warrior football team in the parade, and it was a truly amazing sight to see all the keiki and their parents and grandparents lined along the parade route six to eight people deep.
As we all know, Makakilo is one of the most populated hillside communities in the state of Hawaii. The development of the Waikaloi and Anuhea subdivisions will lengthen Makakilo Drive to within several thousand feet of the freeway upon completion, and with the State Department of Transportation’s recent commencement of construction of the full North-South interchange, we now have a firm point for Makakilo Drive to connect to the H-1 freeway and Farrington Highway.
In case you missed it, on December 11th, the City’s Department of Transportation Services and its consultant, R.M. Towill, held its first meeting at the Makakilo Elementary School Cafeteria to discuss the proposed Makakilo Drive Extension. They provided the people who attended with a brief history of the project, and set the groundwork for the creation of a Citizens’ Advisory Committee to be comprised of landowners and residents.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Frank Genadio, Alan Gano, Mike Golojuch, Sr. and Roy Wickramaratna, and other community leaders for helping me shepherd this project forward. With their help, I was able to put $75,000 in the FY06 budget that was used for pre-planning the environmental assessment. An additional $800,000 of city and state funds were also encumbered in FY07 for Planning/Environmental Impact Statement purposes.
With regard to federal funding, in July 2007, community supporters came to the council and testified successfully in support of Resolution 07-206, which accelerates the construction of Makakilo Dr. from Federal Fiscal Year 2011 to 2010 in the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (OMPO) constrained list of Transportation Improvement Projects for Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded projects. The next step is to support the design of the roadway. Approximately $3 million is needed to keep the process on an aggressive time table.
We need to continue to work together to secure the completion of this project. I will do my best to secure the necessary matching funds in the upcoming budget, but I need your help during the budget process by submitting supportive testimony for these funds.
If you are interested and would like to help, please contact my office at 547-7009.
