How Ho‘opili … Addresses Transportation

D.R. Horton - Schuler Division acknowledges that transportation is often the biggest concern for the residents of West O‘ahu. With its concentrated mixed-use design, residents of and visitors to Ho‘opili should have the conveniences and necessities they need for an enhanced lifestyle close by. This means that your front door could be a short walk from a local drug store, a park or your child’s elementary school, and even better, maybe all of it.

Encouraging walking and/or and bike riding between reasonable distances throughout the community is the essence of stating Ho‘opili is being designed to put pedestrians, not cars, first. This is what the “mixing’ of land uses - placing homes near offices, entertainment, shopping, dining, recreational and other special places - can do. One really important end result can be reduction in automobile dependency.

Designed to help connect residents with the rest of O‘ahu, Ho‘opili will use a variety of mobility options and have elements that positively address transportation matters:

• Transit. With the current Locally Preferred Alternative alignment selected by the Honolulu City Council last December, there is the potential for transit stop locations with Ho‘opili. (For more information on the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project, click here.) An important element of transit will be supportive and connecting bus service for the community.

• Bike Network. There is the potential for a comprehensive network of bike ways that possibly link to existing City and State facilities for extended rides.

• Roads. Ho‘opili is part of a comprehensive effort to coordinate regional plans with other regional developers, the State and the City on various proposed road projects. Future connectivity between the new UH - West O‘ahu campus, the lands controlled by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands and Ho‘opili will prove critical in the future. (Click here for more on the regional planning effort.) Also, by the time actual construction begins at Ho‘opili, several major roads — including the North-South Road from Kapolei Parkway to H-1 Freeway and Kapolei Parkway from Ocean Pointe to the City of Kapolei — should be completed, improving transportation to, from and within the area.

• Jobs. For the City and State to achieve their objectives for the planned Secondary Urban Center, job growth and continued robust economic development of the area is a must. According to the City of Kapolei‘s website, as many as 40,000 new jobs are expected for ‘Ewa by 2025. If these goals are met, the people of ‘Ewa would truly have an opportunity to work where they live.

• Cooperation. Ho‘opili’s master developer, D. R. Horton - Schuler Division, has been operating in the ‘Ewa Plain for decades. As such, it is an effective contributor to the larger effort to address major transportation issues, including among others:

• Once constructed, approximately 40 acres of land will have been provided for the alignment of the North-South Road and its interchange slated to open December 2008.
  
  
• The construction of an important segment of the Kapolei Parkway west of Ft. Barrette Road is underway.
  
  
• Significant sums have been paid into the ‘Ewa Highway Transportation Master Plan Impact Fee Bill (download here), which was adopted to collect monies for six critical regional roadway improvements: North-South Road; Kapolei Parkway; widening of Ft. Weaver; widening of Ft. Barrette; expansion of the Makakilo Interchange; and the Kapolei Interchange.
  
  
• Along the extent of its property lines, it is expected that Ho‘opili will provide land for the widening and improvement of Farrington Highway so that this key road will be made safer and wider between Waipahu and Kapolei.
  
  
• The build-out of Ho‘opili will also bring an important stretch of the newly proposed East-West Connector Road, that portion tying into Ft. Weaver, so that the road will extend from there to Farrington Highway through Department of Hawaiian Homelands and the new UH - West O‘ahu campus. Many more opportunities to improve this area’s east-west connectivity should be realized through the community’s full build-out.