House transportation committee advances funding changes for Safe Routes to School, backing pedestrian-safety measures

The House Committee on Transportation on Feb. 13 advanced measures that would steer new registration or highway-fund revenue toward Safe Routes to School infrastructure and encourage pedestrian-focused signal timing at intersections near schools.

The committee passed amended versions of HB 1231, which would prioritize installation of photo red light imaging detectors in school zones and deposit fine proceeds into a Safe Routes to School special fund, and HB 1471, which would fund installation of leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) and accessible pedestrian signals through an added motor-vehicle registration fee. Both measures were passed with committee amendments intended to leave specific funding amounts for further deliberation.

The bills drew support from transportation and public-health groups and concern from the judiciary over court processing capacity. Supporters said the proposals would fund projects targeted at the state’s most vulnerable road users and give counties and the Department of Transportation (DOT) a sustainable revenue stream for school-area safety projects.

"This proposed fee in this bill is critical for these projects to protect our most vulnerable road users in keiki," said Mariah Yoshizu of Ulupono Initiative. Abby Sites of Hawaii Appleseed said the measures would help the mobility of residents and noted that about 80% of residents live within a 1-mile radius of a school and that LPIs are a low-cost, effective countermeasure. "LPIs are one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce collisions between pedestrians and vehicles at intersections," Sites said, citing research on LPI effectiveness.

Department of Transportation testimony described operational constraints affecting where cameras and LPIs can be installed. Ed Stifel of the Hawaii DOT said site selection must reflect past safety data, traffic volumes and multimodal conflicts, and that legacy signal controllers limit the department’s ability to program advanced timings statewide without first upgrading hardware. "When we select the locations, we have to go with safety issues from the past, volumes in that area, potential conflicts with bikes and pedestrians," Stifel said.

The judiciary, which processes citations from automated enforcement, asked the committee to consider court workload and recommended consultation on site selection. A judiciary representative pointed out that existing automated citations already add nearly 2,000 additional monthly citations to court processing in some areas and urged coordination so courts are not inundated if enforcement expands.

Committee amendments reflected those operational and administrative concerns: language making some requirements permissive rather than mandatory, blanking specific fee or appropriation amounts for later consideration by finance committees, and delaying effective dates to allow counties and courts time to prepare and educate the public. The committee’s report will capture outstanding implementation concerns and the requested appropriation amounts for future consideration.

The committee also asked DOT to coordinate with counties on where to place devices and signaled intent to allow counties time to adapt; for HB 1471 the committee set a tentative implementation date one year after enactment to give counties time for outreach and systems adjustments.

Ending: With the committee-approved amendments, both bills will move forward with funding details to be resolved later; the DOT and the Judiciary will be asked to coordinate site-selection and operational plans and the committee noted the need for careful sequencing to avoid overloading court processing or enforcement capacity.