Public Gets Input in Oahu Highway
In what some residents and politicians are calling a model for how communities and government can work together, the city of Oahu, Hawaii, worked with local residents when planning upcoming improvements on the island’s busiest roadway: Kamehameha Highway.
Instead of the traffic planners coming out and telling residents what was going to happen and how things were going to be done, the residents were asked FIRST for their input. Residents who live along the highway are happy because their community played a major role in the decision making process.
“This project, the first of its kind in Hawaii, is the result of long-range, consensus-based planning processes that involved entire communities,” said Rep. K. Mark Takai, who co-chairs the Kamehameha Highway Improvements Task Force and has been a driving force behind the direction the project has taken.
“The community-driven approach gives area residents a sense of ownership as well as a willingness to assist in its implementation”, Takai said.
The planned improvements will keep all those Hawaiian cars and trucks moving along Oahu’s busy highway.