THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

72

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

supporting the development of inter-island and intra-island ferry systems and requesting the department of transportation to conduct a competition to design the ferry.

 

WHEREAS, Act 158, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001, acknowledged that inter-island maritime transportation for passenger service between Oahu, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Hawaii is insufficient and that the State's harbors needed improvements to support an inter-island and intra-island ferry service; and

WHEREAS, Act 158 authorized the Department of Transportation to issue special facility revenue bonds to improve harbor facilities on the islands of Molokai, Maui, Lanai, Hawaii, and Oahu to facilitate operation of ferry services; and

WHEREAS, Act 263, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, recognized that the ferry system operating between Iroquois Point and the Aloha Tower on Oahu proved beneficial to many Oahu commuters and authorized the Department of Transportation to issue special facility revenue bonds not to exceed $15,000,000 to construct facilities for a ferry service between West and East Oahu; and

WHEREAS, according to the Department of Transportation Harbors Division Planners, the State is constructing a $4,300,000 inter-island ferry terminal on Pier 19 on Oahu, even though no ferry system currently exists, because the project was financed by a federal grant; and

WHEREAS, in September 2002, a request for proposals by the Aloha Tower Development Corporation to redevelop Piers 5 and 6 also includes an additional terminal for coastal Oahu ferries; and

WHEREAS, these ferry terminals will provide a foundation for ferry systems that has been lacking in the past; and

WHEREAS, as early as the 1970s, a number of inter-island and intra-island ferry systems have been operated; and

WHEREAS, from October 1999 to December 2000, approximately thirty-five thousand individuals used the Department of Transportation's Wikiwiki ferry that ran from Kalaeloa Harbor (Barbers Point) to Pier 8 in Honolulu and from Iroquois Point and Middle Loch (Pearl Harbor) to Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, from 1975 to 1978, Seaflight, Inc., ran hydrofoils between Honolulu and Maui and Kauai and the Big Island, but service was terminated when Seaflight's parent company failed and shut down the Hawaii business; and

WHEREAS, ferries have operated successfully from Maui to Lanai and Molokai; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that the Department of Transportation is requested to sponsor a competition to determine the design for an inter-island ferry to run between Honolulu, Maui, and Hawaii, and an intra-island ferry to operate between Kalaeloa Harbor (Barbers Point) and Honolulu; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting the ferry design competition, the Department of Transportation is requested to provide not only information needed to participate in the competition, but also provide information to the general public designed to stimulate interest and promote support for inter-island and intra-island ferry systems; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation, the Harbors Administrator of the Department of Transportation, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Aloha Tower Development Corporation, and the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Ferry System; Design Competition