The purpose of this paper is to describe, analyze, and compare disruptions to the transportation system from two recent disasters in Hawai’i. While they occurred on different islands (Kaua`i and Hawai’i) and resulted from different hazards (flooding and volcanic eruption), there are important commonalities due to the disruption of surface transportation and the consequences for evacuation and emergency services as well as response and recovery. On Kaua`i, the physical impacts were fewer, with a 2 mile stretch of highway damaged by flooding and landslides as compared with 31.1 miles of roads covered by lava on Hawai`i island. Both disasters had similar population impacts, with 5,566 people impacted for Kaua`i and 5,563 for Hawai`i. Another difference is a shorter duration of disruption and a quicker restoration of transportation services for Kaua`i compared with the slower, continuous, and permanent loss of transportation services in Hawai`i. The two cases provide learning opportunities for emergency managers, transportation planners, and engineers. Both demonstrate the need for redundancy in transportation infrastructure for rescue and recovery operations. While the evacuation from a flooding event is different than from a slower-moving volcanic crisis, the importance of staging areas, route planning, alternative travel modes, and training cannot be overemphasized. These disasters focus attention on the critical role of transportation systems in response and recovery. In addition to short-term operational actions, longer-term mitigation, adaptation, and risk reduction strategies are needed to support transportation resilience.

In the absence of a vaccine, nonpharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing and travel reductions were the only strategies for slowing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using survey data from Hawaii ( n = 22,200) collected in March through May of 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, the differences between traveler spreaders who brought the disease into the state and community spreaders were investigated. In addition to describing the demographic attributes and comparing them with attributes of those who were vulnerable to COVID-19, logit models explaining travel behaviors were developed and tested. Traveler spreaders were likely to be male, younger, and returning students. Community spreaders were more likely to be male, essential workers, first responders, and medical personnel at the highest risk of exposure. Using spatial statistics, clusters and hotspot locations of high-risk individuals were mapped. As transportation researchers are in a position to combine their critical analytical capabilities and experience with relevant databases on mobility and the spread of infectious diseases, this analysis could support efforts to respond to and slow the spread of the pandemic.

No abstract

a b s t r a c tFood and energy security are major concerns in the Pacific and around the world. They are key planning priorities in the state of Hawaii as well. Approximately 90% of energy and food resources are imported to Hawaii from the continental USA or other parts of the world. While food and energy independence is a goal in many jurisdictions, assessment of the potential for local food and energy production is lacking. Research is needed to examine how agricultural lands can be used to meet food and energy demands, particularly on islands where land is limited. The contribution of this paper is the development of a community-orientated method for evaluating and prioritizing lands for food and energy self-sufficiency, based on local preferences and production possibilities. Based on a review of the literature, community meetings, and expert interviews, three scenarios were developed to assess food and energy production possibilities on Kauai. The first scenario considers maximum food production, the second assigns equal importance to food and energy production, and the third scenario maximizes energy production. Our analysis shows that while currently zoned agricultural lands on Kauai are capable of meeting the energy and nutritional needs of the current population under some conditions, it is not possible under the strictest definition of ''important agricultural lands''. Some aspect or interpretation of the criteria will always have to be relaxed in order to fulfill energy and food-self sufficiency goals. This work broadens policy discussions regarding the preservation of agricultural lands on small islands.