Runway Under Water? Honolulu Planners Seek Study of Climate Change Impacts on Transportation
08/05/2010
Flickr: kla4067
What would happen to Honolulu International Airport's famous "reef runway" if the ocean rose a few feet in the next century?
When it was completed in 1977, Honolulu's new landing strip became the world's first major runway built entirely offshore on a coral reef. Three decades later, it's a prime example of many transportation assets that could one day feel the effects of climate change.
Local officials have begun to patch together an understanding of which highways, airports and harbors are most at risk from rising waters, changing weather patterns and warmer temperatures. With local funds or staff time, Honolulu could become a guinea pig for a pilot program that's offering hundreds of thousands of matching federal dollars to assess vulnerabilities and create planning resources.
"I certainly see the value," said Brian Gibson, executive director of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization. The federally mandated management group's policy committee is comprised of members of the Honolulu City Council, Hawaii Legislature, the city's Department of Transportation Services and the state's Department of Transportation.
"Knowing what assets are vulnerable to climate change would inform our planning process going forward," Gibson said recently at his Richards Street office.
