O'ahu has some of the worst traffic in the country hugely because of spread out neighborhoods/subdivisions rather than investing in density. We don't have enoug

O'ahu has some of the worst traffic in the country hugely because of spread out neighborhoods/subdivisions rather than investing in density. We don't have enough land to build large enough highways, subdivisions, and the standard car-based strip-malls. I will admit, from a certain economic standpoint, ag land in Hawaii is much less efficient than low-density housing. I do believe that the negative externalities not included in that point of view should be considered (e.g. environmental cost, harm to the tourist industry, the ever nebulous quality of life, etc.). The economic pressures to build subdivisions are huge as the cost of housing is way out of proportion to the incomes of locals, but demand continues to outstrip supply and with as limited of land as we have, we're just not going to be able to ever reduce costs by trying to supply demand with subdivisions. Unfortunately, we also tend to pass laws limiting height and density and don't have enough mixed zoning areas.