Transportation: a cost-of-living burden but also an opportunity

Across Hawaiʻi, families are struggling to make ends meet. While housing rightly dominates the cost-of-living conversation, transportation is also quietly draining household budgets.

Vehicle maintenance, insurance and gas quickly eat into a family’s housing and food budget. At the same time, transportation is our state’s largest source of climate pollution.

We have an opportunity to reframe the conversation — and to act. Investments in multimodal services and infrastructure are not just climate strategies; they are meaningful ways to reduce island residents’ cost of living. 

That truth came into sharp focus with the landmark settlement in Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation.

In 2022, 13 young people — ages 8 to 18 — sued the state, arguing that a transportation system built around fossil fuels violated their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. The case was rooted in Article XI of the Hawaiʻi State Constitution, which not only mandates conservation of natural resources but affirms residents’ right to defend that mandate in court.

In 2024, the state settled, committing to align transportation policy with Hawaiʻi’s climate goals for a carbon negative economy by 2045. Among other outcomes, the settlement resulted in a plan for HDOT to reduce emissions, and a map of multi-modal improvements to be implemented within the next five years. 

The message of the settlement was clear: our transportation system must change. But the opportunity before us is bigger than compliance. The same reforms that cut emissions can also lower costs for working families.