TEN TOP AREA PRIORITIES FOR TOM BERG
1. The portion of the East West Connector Road through private property should be completed and open for public use first before the developer adds over 11,000 more residential units to the landscape called- "Hoopili Project." UH West Oahu and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will have their portion of the road completed within two years but the road will terminate at the Hoopili Project boundary with no timetable provided by the developer to complete their segment. This road when fully completed will connect the North South Road corridor with the Ft. Weaver Road corridor.
2. Complete the North South Road. The state is currently constructing four of the six lanes (the fourth lane is actually a shoulder lane) and the Department of Transportation will have to come back to the Legislature for a funding request to: A) Complete to six lanes; B) Extend to Keoneula Boulevard.
3. Kalaeloa District overhaul. Public roads within Kalaeloa are substandard per city and state guidelines. Over $50 million will be needed to provide improvements including adding adequate street lighting throughout. The intersection at the Renton Road and Roosevelt Avenue gate is currently without a street light and in immediate need of illumination to enhance safety conditions.
4. UH West Oahu Campus. Over $200 million more will be needed to bring the campus to completion.
5. Fixed Guideway Along Farrington Highway. If steel-on-steel (rail project) is to be the technology chosen for the fixed guideway, then noise mitigation will be a necessary component to implement for those classrooms at Waipahu Intermediate School and Waipahu High School fronting rail operations. Closing the windows to drown out the sound will not be a solution when there is no air conditioning to fall back on. All schools in our district should have air conditioning by now and to continue decade after decade ignoring this matter cannot continue and must be addressed immediately. A five minute Olelo television segment was provided by Tom recently outlining how to fund the air conditioning of our schools.
6. Leeward Bikeway. This 10 foot wide pedestrian path from Waipio Point Access Road to Lualualei Homestead Road is to be constructed for the most part within the old OR&L Co. 40 foot right-of-way and was estimated to be completed in 2003 per the EIS. The Legislature in 1999 allocated $4 million to get the path started. Yet, nothing has happened until now thanks to Governor Linda Lingle taking over and has the project finally moving forward. Phase II from the Hawaiian Railway Society's yard to Lualualei Homestead Road will require additional funding from the 25th Legislature.
KHNL Story - Plans for A New Leeward Oahu Bikeway
7. Passenger Ferry operations from either Ocean Pointe's marina or at Iroquois Point should transpire for us too in Ewa Beach since going in the opposite direction to catch the ferry at Kalaeloa Harbor is unproductive. The federal government has allocated over $5 million for this to take hold and should be pursued to service us in Ewa Beach and Waipahu respectively.
8. Three Lanes of Ft. Weaver Widening Project down to one lane to access H-1 Freeway. Tom met with Department of Transportation (DOT) Director Brennon Morioka in April of this year to lobby the DOT to extend the Ft. Weaver Road Widening Project from Laulaunui Street to the H-1 Freeway. This would provide us with another lane to access the H-1 Freeway town bound. The DOT will be working on Tom’s request and provide the Legislature with a cost and project scope analysis by Winter Quarter of 2009 to present to our community.
9. North-South Road and Farrington Highway Flyover. Tom has initiated at numerous levels within government for the intersection where the North- South Road is to eventually intersect with Farrington Highway to be an elevated overpass instead of the installation of a traffic signal to serve this location.
10. Child and Family Service Pedestrian Activated Crosswalk. Tom has a plan that would remove the traffic signal at this location by having the state construct a frontage road to access the site.
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