AASHTO Journal - State DOTs Push Ahead with EV Charger Station Construction

Across the country, state departments of transportation continue working to establish and expand a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles or EVs.

[Above photo by the Hawaii DOT]

For example, the Hawaii Department of Transportation recently added 20 new EV charging stations at a cost of $539,000 at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

Located on the ground floor of the International Parking Structure, the Level 2 chargers are available to the public on a first-come-first-served, pay-per-use basis, 24 hours a day.

Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii DOT, noted in a statement that those chargers are part of his agency’s commitment to expand EV infrastructure to support the state’s transition toward a sustainable transportation future.

“The new charging stations offer EV drivers a convenient and reliable charging option while at the airport,” he said. “Hawai‘i consistently ranks among the top states for electric vehicle adoption, so it’s important that we continue to invest in charging infrastructure that supports the electrification of our transportation system.”

Meanwhile, the Arizona Department of Transportation recently began seeking public input on a plan that would add nine corridors to its planned network of EV charging stations.

That agency said in a statement that its statewide EV charging network is being implemented in phases, with this being the final phase.

Previous Arizona DOT EV plans identified charging locations along all interstate freeways, US 89 and 93, state routes 68, 90, 95 and 160 and portions of US 60 and state routes 64, 80, 87 and 347.

And in late August the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation opened two new federally-funded EV charging stations, bringing the total number of stations built by the agency using funds from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure or NEVI program to 19, representing a total investment of more than $10.5 million.

PennDOT added in a statement that it completed three funding rounds over the course of 2023 and 2024 focused on identifying charging station projects to fill gaps along Pennsylvania’s Alternative Fuels Corridors, with a total of 90 active NEVI projects in 43 counties are now in varying stages of implementation and include a total federal investment of $58.4 million.