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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Hawaii Statewide Sustainable Landscape Master Plan and Roadside Design Guide

Concurrent with ongoing initiatives to take a contextual or “Context Sensitive Solutions” (CSS) approach to highway design and construction, there is an increasing emphasis on engaging a broad set of issues related to environmental and social sustainability in developing and improving highways. The Hawaii Statewide Highways Sustainable Landscape Master Plan and associated Roadside Design Guide represent a concerted effort to make the state of Hawaii’s roadways and roadside landscapes more sustainable and contextual. The Master Plan and Design Guide are an expression of traditional Hawaiian values of Pono (resource protection and replenishment), Kuleana (shared responsibility), and Lokahi (human well-being). The documents are intended to make highways, and those who plan and design them, more respectful of the sensitive landscapes and local culture of the Islands. The Master Plan and Design Guide—which augments extant literature on “sustainable best practices” in the planning, construction, and maintenance of roads—fosters a systems-thinking and cultural landscape approach to every highway improvement project. The Master Plan and Design Guide address how roadways and roadsides affect the larger landscape, local ecosystems, and social setting. Basically, the documents promote sustainable elements and treatments that will integrate streets, roads and highways with their various settings while eliminating or lessening a roadway’s negative environmental effects. Recommendations and guidelines are provided for a broad suite of issues and considerations including water quality and resources, wildlife movement and habitat, vegetation, multi-modal travel, land use and access, aesthetics, tourism and recreation, maintenance, and local economic activity. Because each highway is in a different landscape setting with a different set of issues, the Master Plan relies on a watershed spatial framework to subdivide the Hawaiian Islands into distinct cultural landscapes for better comprehension of local contexts and natural ecosystems. This watershed framework meshes with the ancient Hawaiians’ system of using large watersheds (Moku) and smaller watersheds (Ahupua’a) for land management and political purposes. From this enhanced understanding of setting or context, the plan redefines highways throughout the entire state according to their setting. Thus a two-lane “rural arterial” is more accurately defined as a Sea-cliff Scenic Byway, Coastal Farmland Road, or Shoreline Residential Drive, with important distinctions as to highway improvements and roadside treatments for these different highway types. The Master Plan and Design Guide integrate landscape-level, sustainable considerations and guidance into the Hawaii Department of Transportation’s (HDOT) project design and delivery process by applying sustainable recommendations to specific locations and conditions. Faced with limited resources, lengthy permitting requirements, and multiple steps in project delivery, HDOT simply cannot implement a full-blown CSS process for every project nor conduct the research on sustainable best practices for every design decision and situation. With performance metrics, the Hawaii Statewide Highways Sustainable Landscape Master Plan and Roadside Design Guide constitute a reliable source of sustainable and contextual solutions to the dozens of highway projects that HDOT and its consultants undertake every year. As such, the documents provide a practical framework for other DOT’s and highway planning professionals who are pursuing sustainable and contextual approaches for developing and improving highways.

  • Summary URL:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Abstract used with permission from the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, organized by the Center for Transportation and the Environment, Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Carolina State University.
  • Corporate Authors:

    North Carolina State University, Raleigh

    Center for Transportation and the Environment
    Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-8601
  • Authors:
    • Scott, Charlie
  • Conference:
  • Publication Date: 2013

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Photos;
  • Pagination: 20p
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET 2013)

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01555731
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Feb 27 2015 4:44PM