This week on the One O‘ahu Podcast, Hong Li, Deputy Director for the City’s Dept. of Transportation Services, joins host Brandi Higa, to discuss taking on a new leadership role, ways to make our streets safer for all, and the future for driverless technology.
A new leadership role
Last month, Mayor Blangiardi announced new leadership appointments at the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services (DTS), reinforcing the City’s commitment to delivering safe, reliable, and forward-looking transportation solutions for Oʻahu. As part of the transition, Honglong “Hong” Li, PhD, PE, has been appointed Deputy Director of DTS.
“I was honored and humbled at the same time,” said Li when discussing his promotion to this new leadership role.
Li is a nationally recognized transportation engineer and senior program manager with more than 28 years of experience in the planning, design, delivery, and operation of complex, multimodal transportation systems. He has served with DTS since 2014 and most recently led the City’s Rail Station Access Improvement Program, delivering critical first- and last-mile improvements across the Skyline system.
Safer streets for all
As of the recording of this episode of the One O‘ahu Podcast, O‘ahu had seen its 7th traffic fatality of 2026.
“I think there are three things in play,” explained Deputy Director Li. “Number one is the human factor. Secondly, is the vehicle you are in. And third, is roadway infrastructure. We are looking at all three elements and how they interplay with each other.”
To learn more about the City and County of Honolulu’s commitment to end traffic violence, please visit https://www.honolulu.gov/completestreets/vision-zero/
Driverless technology
One solution to help improve road safety in the future could be driverless technology. Higher levels of automation, referred to as automated driving systems, remove the human driver from the chain of events that can lead to a crash. But how likely is that for the City and County of Honolulu? We asked the new DTS Deputy Director.
“Autonomous vehicles are going to have a profound impact on how we travel,” replied Li. “It comes with a lot of high expectations and there’s going to be a long period of time before we see autonomous vehicles on the road.”
Collectively, these technologies will help protect drivers and passengers, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians.
