Department of Transportation : State of Hawaii

OahuMPO Receives $1.2M Federal Grant

Hawai‘i Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 01/07/2025 08:16 AM HST

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MARK GARRITY

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization receives $1.2M
to develop and implement new project prioritization tool

TheBus and Skyline at Pearlridge.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: January 7, 2025
Lily Zheng lily.zheng@oahumpo.org

Honolulu –The O‘ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OahuMPO) is pleased to announce that they were awarded $1,229,130.40 in federal grant funding for the development and implementation of an improved process for the selection of federally funded and regionally significant transportation projects and programs on O‘ahu. The updated process will be used to prioritize funding in OahuMPO’s long-range plan known as the O‘ahu Regional Transportation Plan (ORTP), which identifies projects and programs for the next 25 years, and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which identifies projects and programs that will be funded in the next four years.

“As Chair of the OahuMPO Policy Board and the House Transportation Committee, I’m proud to announce that OahuMPO has been awarded a federal grant to fund critical transportation systems and programs on Oʻahu,” said State of Hawaii Representative, and OahuMPO Policy Board Chair, Darius Kila. “Transportation impacts all of us, and this funding will help modernize and improve our current infrastructure. It’s a significant achievement for OahuMPO to be one of only 16 agencies nationwide to receive this funding, reflecting our commitment to advancing Oʻahu’s transportation future.”

The competitive grant was awarded through the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Prioritization Process Pilot Program (PPPP), which distributed up to $30 million in grants. OahuMPO will use the funds to develop and implement an improved project selection process, which includes using data to better understand potential project impacts, the development of an interactive dashboard, and more robust outreach efforts including a community-based program to engage groups that are underrepresented in traditional planning efforts. The improved process will help inform decision makers and align transportation investments with O‘ahu’s vision and goals for its future transportation system.

OahuMPO Executive Director, Mark Garrity emphasized the significance of this funding: "This federal grant will allow us to create a more transparent and publicly accessible project selection process for our regional transportation plan, which will help us achieve the community's vision for a multimodal transportation system while meeting our sustainability goals."

-PAU-

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Press release approved by Representative Darius K. Kila, House District 44

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