Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project
Encyclopedia
The Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project (HHCTCP) is the official name for the plan to construct an elevated rapid transit
line serving the City and County of Honolulu
on the island of Oahu
. Plans for a mass transit line to connect Honolulu's urban center with outlying areas began in the 1960s, but funding was not approved until 2005. The controversy over the rail line was the dominant issue for local politics leading into the 2008 Honolulu elections, and culminated in a city charter amendment which left the final decision to the citizens of Oahu. The amendment passed with 53% of voters in favor. A ground-breaking ceremony to signal the beginning of construction was held on February 22, 2011.
The project, as planned, will construct an elevated rapid transit line from the edge of Kapolei, near the proposed site of the University of Hawaii-West Oahu
campus, to Ala Moana Center
. The line will pass through communities along southern Oahu, via Honolulu International Airport
and downtown Honolulu
. The plan also includes extensions west through Kapolei, and a link through Salt Lake. In addition, there will be extensions east to the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus and Waikiki
. The line will use 128 ft (39 m) trains carrying about 390 passengers each, similar in size to light rail
systems elsewhere in the United States (such as the MAX in Portland, Oregon
and the Gold Line in Los Angeles
) as opposed to larger trains typically found on rapid transit systems like the New York City Subway
.
Frank Fasi
was elected to office in 1968, and started planning studies for a rail project, named Honolulu Area Rapid Transit (HART), in 1977. After Fasi lost the 1980 reelection to Eileen Anderson
, President Ronald Reagan
cut off funding for upcoming mass transit projects, which led Anderson to cancel HART in 1981. Fasi was reelected in 1984, and restarted the HART project two years later, but the second effort was stopped in a 1992 vote by the Honolulu City Council
against the necessary tax
increase.
Fasi resigned in 1994 to run for governor
, with Jeremy Harris
winning the special election
to replace him. Harris unsuccessfully pursued a bus rapid transit
project as an interim solution until he left office in 2004. His successor, Mufi Hannemann
, began the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project (HHCTCP), the island's fourth attempt to build a mass transit system operating in a dedicated right-of-way.
Governor Linda Lingle
initially threatened to veto
the bill, believing that money destined for county governments should be collected by the individual counties. After compromising with legislative leaders and Mayor Hannemann, however, she allowed the bill to become law. On July 12, 2005, the bill was enacted as Act 247 of the Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, without the Governor's signature. A month later, the Honolulu City Council
authorized the one-half percent GET increase, and Hannemann signed the measure into law on August 24. Act 247 required Honolulu to use the funds only for the construction and operation of a mass transit system, and barred its use for public roads and other existing transit systems, such as TheBus. Since no other county authorized the excise tax increase before the deadline of December 31, 2005, the Hawaii GET remains at 4% for Hawaii's three other counties. The increase went into effect on January 1, 2007, and is due to expire on December 31, 2022.
The Legislature considered a bill in the 2009 legislative session that would have redirected income from the half-percent increase back to the state to offset a $1.8 billion projected shortfall in the following three fiscal years. The bill was opposed by Mayor Hannemann and other city leaders who believed that redirecting the money would jeopardize federal funding for the project, and was eventually dropped after U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye
indicated to the Legislature that he shared the city's concerns.
. A second option called for a further expansion to the bus system, with improvements to existing roads. The third alternative proposed a two-lane flyover
above the H-1 freeway
between Pearl City
and Honolulu International Airport, continuing over Nimitz Highway
, and into downtown Honolulu. The report recommended construction of the fixed guideway, and is considered the city's official justification for building a rail line.
A second planning document, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), studied possible natural and social impacts of the construction and operation of the HHCTCP. The DEIS was completed and cleared for public release by the Federal Transit Administration
(FTA) on October 29, 2008. After minor changes were made to comply with state law, the document was distributed via the city's official project website four days later. The DEIS indicated that impacts of the rail project would include land acquisition from private owners on the route, displacement of residents and businesses, aesthetic concerns related to the elevated guideway, and noise from passing trains.
The city was criticized for timing the release only two days before the 2008 general election. City Councilmember Ann Kobayashi
, running as a mayoral candidate against incumbent
Hannemann, suggested that the city deliberately withheld key information to early voters who had already cast their ballots for the mayoral candidates, and a city charter amendment related to the project. The anti-rail advocacy group Stop Rail Now criticized the report for not discussing bus rapid transit and toll lanes, options studied earlier by the city in its Alternatives Analysis.
The third and final official planning document, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), was approved and cleared for public release by the FTA on June 14, 2010. The FEIS addresses and incorporates public comments received regarding the DEIS. The FTA subsequently declared the environmental review process complete in a record of decision issued on January 18, 2011.
: City Councilmember Ann Kobayashi, and University of Hawaii
professor Panos D. Prevedouros
. Kobayashi supported a "rubber-tired" mass transit system, as opposed to the conventional steel-wheel-on-steel-rail system chosen by the Hannemann administration. Prevedouros, on the other hand, opposed any mass transit project, favoring construction of a reversible tollway over the H-1, similar to the Managed Lane option studied in the Alternatives Analysis, and reworking existing road systems to ease congestion. No candidate won a majority of votes in the September 20 primary, forcing a runoff between Hannemann and Kobayashi; Hannemann successfully retained his post with 58% of the vote in the November 4 general election.
On April 22, 2008, the Stop Rail Now advocacy group announced their intent to file a petition with the city to place a question on the 2008 ballot
to create an ordinance that read: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail." Stop Rail Now attempted to submit the petition with 49,041 signatures to City Clerk Denise De Costa on August 5, but was initially denied after De Costa claimed the city charter did not allow the petition to be submitted less than 180 days before a general election, as the wording of the petition called for a special election. Stop Rail Now filed a lawsuit to force the city to accept the petition, and the courts ruled in Stop Rail Now's favor on August 14. Stop Rail Now's petition ultimately failed after De Costa deemed 35,056 of the signatures valid on September 4, well short of the 44,525 required.
In response to the possibility that Stop Rail Now's petition would fail, the City Council voted on August 21 to place a proposed amendment to the city charter on the ballot, asking voters to decide the fate of the project. Mayor Hannemann signed the proposal the following day. The City Council's proposed amendment was not intended to have a direct legal effect on the city's ability to continue the project, but was meant as a means for Oahu residents to express their opinions on its construction. The charter amendment was approved with 53% of votes cast in favor and 47% against. The majority of voters in Leeward and Central Oahu, the areas expected to benefit from the project, generally voted in favor of the amendment, while the majority of those living outside the project's scope in Windward Oahu and East Honolulu voted against it.
The Burial Council's core contention is the city's decision to conduct an archaeological survey of the rail line's route in phases, meaning construction on a majority of the line will be complete by the time the survey in the Kakaako area is performed, which in turn increases the likelihood that any remains discovered will be moved instead of being allowed to remain in situ. In response to the Burial Council's concerns, the city agreed to begin conducting an archaeological survey of the area in 2010, two years earlier than originally planned. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources later signed the city's programmatic agreement on January 15, 2011, over the continuing concerns of the Burial Council.
The city's decision to conduct the archaeological survey in phases subsequently led to a lawsuit filed on February 1, 2011 by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation
on behalf of cultural practitioner Paulette Kaleikini. The suit, which names both the city and the State of Hawaii as defendants, contends that state law requires the full length of the rail line to have an archaeological survey conducted before any construction takes place, and seeks to void the environmental impact statement and all construction permits issued for the project. Kaleikini's lawyers filed on February 18 a request for an injunction to stop work on the project until the case is resolved. The suit was dismissed on March 23, 2011 after Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang ruled that state and federal laws allow the archaeological surveys to be conducted in phases.
In January 2010, Governor Lingle publicly recommended that the city alter plans for the rail line after news reports on FTA documents where the federal agency raised issues over declining tax revenues in connection with a global economic recession, and commissioned a study by the state to review the project's finances in March. The state financial study, publicly released on December 2, 2010, indicated that the project would likely experience a $1.7 billion overrun above the $5.3 billion projected cost, and that collections from the General Excise Tax would be 30% below forecasts. Lingle's successor, Neil Abercrombie
, publicly stated that the financial analysis would not affect his decision to approve or disapprove of the project, saying that the state's responsibility is limited to the environmental review process, and that decisions regarding the project's finances belong to the city and the FTA. Governor Abercrombie subsequently approved the project's final environmental impact statement on December 16, 2010. The Honolulu City Council held a hearing on January 12, 2011 about the state's financial review, but the hearing was not attended by any state officials, who had been invited to testify.
On January 18, 2011, the FTA issued a "record of decision," indicating that the HHCTCP has met the requirements of its environmental review and that the city is allowed to begin construction work on the project. The record of decision allows the city to begin negotiating with owners of land that will be purchased for the project, to begin relocating utility lines to make way for construction of the line and stations, and to purchase rolling stock
for the rail line. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on February 22, 2011 in Kapolei, at the site of the future East Kapolei station along Kualakai Parkway.
in Honolulu, where it will split into spurs leading to the University of Hawaii at Manoa
campus and Waikiki
. The line will fork near Aloha Stadium
into two routes, one passing Honolulu International Airport
, and the other moving through Salt Lake, before reuniting at Middle Street in Kalihi
. The city currently plans to build the section of the line between eastern Kapolei and Ala Moana Shopping Center, excluding the portion passing Salt Lake, with a total of twenty-one stations along the route. The city council initially decided to build the Salt Lake route before the airport route, the result of a compromise with City Councilmember Romy Cachola, whose constituents include Salt Lake residents. After the city charter amendment on rail transit passed, the City Council reconsidered the decision, and decided to re-route the rail line to pass by Pearl Harbor
and the airport. The line will be served by 128 ft (39 m) long trains, each with a capacity of 390 passengers. The trains will operate with up to twenty departures per hour.
The line is scheduled to open in three phases between 2015 and 2019:
The rail line, as currently planned, will be built starting from suburban areas in Kapolei and Ewa, and progressing towards the urban center in Honolulu. This is because the first phase includes a baseyard for trains, and a planning decision by the city to delay the major infrastructure impacts associated with construction in the urban center to later phases of the project. Future extensions are planned to eventually service the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and Waikiki, as well as Kalaeloa.
On October 21, 2009, the city announced Kiewit Pacific Co. had won the $483 million contract to build the first two stages of the line, bidding $90 million under the expected price. The stations will be tendered separately. Construction is scheduled to begin in December 2009, pending approval of the environmental impact statement by the state and federal governments and approval of funding from the Federal Transit Administration. Bids for the next section from Pearl Highlands and Aloha Stadium are expected in November 2009.
Rolling stock for the line will initially include 80 cars in 40 two-car consists, built by a joint venture between AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo STS
named Ansaldo Honolulu. (AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo STS previously collaborated on the construction and operation of vehicles for the Copenhagen Metro
.) Each car will be 64 ft (19.5 m) long, weigh 72000 lb (32,658.7 kg), and have 36 seats with a listed total capacity of 195 people. The cars will be powered by a third-rail electrification system. The two competing bidders for the rail car contract, Bombardier Transportation
and Sumitomo Corporation of America
, have filed protests over the award.
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
line serving the City and County of Honolulu
Honolulu County, Hawaii
The City and County of Honolulu is a consolidated city–county located in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The municipality and county includes both the urban district of Honolulu and the rest of the island of Oahu, as well as several minor outlying islands, including all of the Northwestern Hawaiian...
on the island of Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
. Plans for a mass transit line to connect Honolulu's urban center with outlying areas began in the 1960s, but funding was not approved until 2005. The controversy over the rail line was the dominant issue for local politics leading into the 2008 Honolulu elections, and culminated in a city charter amendment which left the final decision to the citizens of Oahu. The amendment passed with 53% of voters in favor. A ground-breaking ceremony to signal the beginning of construction was held on February 22, 2011.
The project, as planned, will construct an elevated rapid transit line from the edge of Kapolei, near the proposed site of the University of Hawaii-West Oahu
University of Hawaii-West Oahu
The University of Hawaii - West Oahu, UHWO, or UH West Oahu, is one of ten branches of the University of Hawaii system and is a public, co-ed, state university with the main campus located at 96-129 Ala Ike, adjacent to Leeward Community College and the Pearl City CDP in the City and County of...
campus, to Ala Moana Center
Ala Moana Center
Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is the largest shopping mall in Hawaii, the fifteenth largest shopping mall in the United States, and the largest open-air shopping center in the world....
. The line will pass through communities along southern Oahu, via Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States, with traffic now exceeding 21 million passengers a year and rising.It is located in the Honolulu...
and downtown Honolulu
Downtown Honolulu
Downtown Honolulu is the current historic, economic, governmental, and central part of Honolulu—bounded by Nuuanu Stream to the west, Ward Avenue to the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the north, and Honolulu Harbor to the south—situated within the larger Honolulu District...
. The plan also includes extensions west through Kapolei, and a link through Salt Lake. In addition, there will be extensions east to the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus and Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
. The line will use 128 ft (39 m) trains carrying about 390 passengers each, similar in size to light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
systems elsewhere in the United States (such as the MAX in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and the Gold Line in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
) as opposed to larger trains typically found on rapid transit systems like the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
.
Previous projects
For more than 40 years, Honolulu politicians have attempted to construct a rail transit line. As early as 1966, then-mayor, Neal S. Blaisdell, suggested a rail line as a solution to alleviate traffic problems in Honolulu, stating: "Taken in the mass, the automobile is a noxious mechanism whose destiny in workaday urban use is to frustrate man and make dead certain that he approaches his daily occupation unhappy and inefficient."Frank Fasi
Frank Fasi
Frank Francis Fasi was a United States politician having the distinction as the longest serving Mayor of Honolulu in Honolulu, Hawaii. He also served as a territorial senator and member of the Honolulu City Council...
was elected to office in 1968, and started planning studies for a rail project, named Honolulu Area Rapid Transit (HART), in 1977. After Fasi lost the 1980 reelection to Eileen Anderson
Eileen Anderson
Eileen Anderson is the first and so far only woman to serve as Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. She was in office from 1981 to 1985. A Democrat, Anderson served in various positions in the city and county and the state...
, President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
cut off funding for upcoming mass transit projects, which led Anderson to cancel HART in 1981. Fasi was reelected in 1984, and restarted the HART project two years later, but the second effort was stopped in a 1992 vote by the Honolulu City Council
Honolulu City Council
The Honolulu City Council is the legislative branch of the City & County of Honolulu and is considered the second most powerful parliamentary body in the State of Hawaii, following the Hawaii State Legislature...
against the necessary tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
increase.
Fasi resigned in 1994 to run for governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
, with Jeremy Harris
Jeremy Harris
Jeremy Harris, born December 7, 1950 in Wilmington, Delaware, served as Mayor of Honolulu from 1994 to 2004. A biologist by training, Harris started his political career as a delegate to the 1978 Hawai'i State Constitutional Convention...
winning the special election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
to replace him. Harris unsuccessfully pursued a bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
project as an interim solution until he left office in 2004. His successor, Mufi Hannemann
Mufi Hannemann
Muliufi Francis "Mufi" Hannemann is an American politician. He is the former Mayor of Honolulu. Hannemann has served as a special assistant in Washington, D.C., with the Department of the Interior, where he was selected for a White House fellowship in the Reagan administration under Vice President...
, began the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project (HHCTCP), the island's fourth attempt to build a mass transit system operating in a dedicated right-of-way.
General Excise Tax increase
Shortly after winning the 2004 election, Hannemann announced that construction of a rail line was an administration priority. The following May, the Hawaii State Legislature passed a bill to allow counties a one-half percent increase in the Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET), from 4% to 4.5%, to fund transportation projects. According to the bill, increased revenue would be delivered to counties implementing the raised tax to fund general public transportation infrastructure throughout Hawaii, and to pay for mass transit in the case of the City and County of Honolulu. Money collected from the initial 4% GET would remain state revenue.Governor Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle was the sixth Governor of Hawaii. Lingle holds a number of distinctions: first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since the departure of William F...
initially threatened to veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
the bill, believing that money destined for county governments should be collected by the individual counties. After compromising with legislative leaders and Mayor Hannemann, however, she allowed the bill to become law. On July 12, 2005, the bill was enacted as Act 247 of the Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, without the Governor's signature. A month later, the Honolulu City Council
Honolulu City Council
The Honolulu City Council is the legislative branch of the City & County of Honolulu and is considered the second most powerful parliamentary body in the State of Hawaii, following the Hawaii State Legislature...
authorized the one-half percent GET increase, and Hannemann signed the measure into law on August 24. Act 247 required Honolulu to use the funds only for the construction and operation of a mass transit system, and barred its use for public roads and other existing transit systems, such as TheBus. Since no other county authorized the excise tax increase before the deadline of December 31, 2005, the Hawaii GET remains at 4% for Hawaii's three other counties. The increase went into effect on January 1, 2007, and is due to expire on December 31, 2022.
The Legislature considered a bill in the 2009 legislative session that would have redirected income from the half-percent increase back to the state to offset a $1.8 billion projected shortfall in the following three fiscal years. The bill was opposed by Mayor Hannemann and other city leaders who believed that redirecting the money would jeopardize federal funding for the project, and was eventually dropped after U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye
Daniel Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye is the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history. Inouye is the chairman of the United States Senate...
indicated to the Legislature that he shared the city's concerns.
Studies
The City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services released the first formal study related to the HHCTCP on November 1, 2006, the Alternatives Analysis Report. The report compared the cost and benefits of a "fixed guideway system," along with three alternatives. The first expanded the existing bus system to match population growthPopulation growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
. A second option called for a further expansion to the bus system, with improvements to existing roads. The third alternative proposed a two-lane flyover
Overpass
An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...
above the H-1 freeway
Interstate H-1
Interstate H-1 is the busiest Interstate Highway in Hawaii, United States, located on the island of O‘ahu. Despite the number, this is an east–west highway—the 'H'-series numbering reflects the order in which routes were funded and built. H-1 goes from Route 93 in Kapolei to Route 72 in...
between Pearl City
Pearl City, Hawaii
Pearl City is a census-designated place located in the Ewa District and City & County of Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. As of the 2010 Census, the CDP had a total population of 47,698. Pearl City is located along the north shore of Pearl Harbor. ʻAiea borders Pearl City to the east, while Waipahu...
and Honolulu International Airport, continuing over Nimitz Highway
Hawaii Route 92
Route 92 is a major east–west highway on the island of Oahu which begins at exit 15 off Interstate H-1 in Honolulu and ends east of the Ala Wai Canal crossing in Waikiki. The western portion, west of Richards Street, is also known as the Nimitz Highway...
, and into downtown Honolulu. The report recommended construction of the fixed guideway, and is considered the city's official justification for building a rail line.
A second planning document, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), studied possible natural and social impacts of the construction and operation of the HHCTCP. The DEIS was completed and cleared for public release by the Federal Transit Administration
Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administrations within the DOT...
(FTA) on October 29, 2008. After minor changes were made to comply with state law, the document was distributed via the city's official project website four days later. The DEIS indicated that impacts of the rail project would include land acquisition from private owners on the route, displacement of residents and businesses, aesthetic concerns related to the elevated guideway, and noise from passing trains.
The city was criticized for timing the release only two days before the 2008 general election. City Councilmember Ann Kobayashi
Ann Kobayashi
Ann Kobayashi is a politician and businesswoman from Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a member of the Honolulu City Council, representing District 5. She previously held the same City Council seat between 2002 and 2008, but resigned from the seat to unsuccessfully run for Mayor of Honolulu against...
, running as a mayoral candidate against incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Hannemann, suggested that the city deliberately withheld key information to early voters who had already cast their ballots for the mayoral candidates, and a city charter amendment related to the project. The anti-rail advocacy group Stop Rail Now criticized the report for not discussing bus rapid transit and toll lanes, options studied earlier by the city in its Alternatives Analysis.
The third and final official planning document, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), was approved and cleared for public release by the FTA on June 14, 2010. The FEIS addresses and incorporates public comments received regarding the DEIS. The FTA subsequently declared the environmental review process complete in a record of decision issued on January 18, 2011.
Impact on the 2008 Honolulu elections
The importance of the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project in the 2008 mayoral election led one observer to describe the vote as a "referendum on rail transit". Two challengers emerged as rivals to incumbent Mufi HannemannMufi Hannemann
Muliufi Francis "Mufi" Hannemann is an American politician. He is the former Mayor of Honolulu. Hannemann has served as a special assistant in Washington, D.C., with the Department of the Interior, where he was selected for a White House fellowship in the Reagan administration under Vice President...
: City Councilmember Ann Kobayashi, and University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
professor Panos D. Prevedouros
Panos D. Prevedouros
Panos D. Prevedouros , is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, subcommittee chair of the Transportation Research Board , co-author of a textbook Transportation Engineering and Planning, Prentice Hall, 1993 and 2001, and two-time candidate for Mayor of the City and...
. Kobayashi supported a "rubber-tired" mass transit system, as opposed to the conventional steel-wheel-on-steel-rail system chosen by the Hannemann administration. Prevedouros, on the other hand, opposed any mass transit project, favoring construction of a reversible tollway over the H-1, similar to the Managed Lane option studied in the Alternatives Analysis, and reworking existing road systems to ease congestion. No candidate won a majority of votes in the September 20 primary, forcing a runoff between Hannemann and Kobayashi; Hannemann successfully retained his post with 58% of the vote in the November 4 general election.
On April 22, 2008, the Stop Rail Now advocacy group announced their intent to file a petition with the city to place a question on the 2008 ballot
Ballot
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
to create an ordinance that read: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail." Stop Rail Now attempted to submit the petition with 49,041 signatures to City Clerk Denise De Costa on August 5, but was initially denied after De Costa claimed the city charter did not allow the petition to be submitted less than 180 days before a general election, as the wording of the petition called for a special election. Stop Rail Now filed a lawsuit to force the city to accept the petition, and the courts ruled in Stop Rail Now's favor on August 14. Stop Rail Now's petition ultimately failed after De Costa deemed 35,056 of the signatures valid on September 4, well short of the 44,525 required.
In response to the possibility that Stop Rail Now's petition would fail, the City Council voted on August 21 to place a proposed amendment to the city charter on the ballot, asking voters to decide the fate of the project. Mayor Hannemann signed the proposal the following day. The City Council's proposed amendment was not intended to have a direct legal effect on the city's ability to continue the project, but was meant as a means for Oahu residents to express their opinions on its construction. The charter amendment was approved with 53% of votes cast in favor and 47% against. The majority of voters in Leeward and Central Oahu, the areas expected to benefit from the project, generally voted in favor of the amendment, while the majority of those living outside the project's scope in Windward Oahu and East Honolulu voted against it.
Burial issues
A likely problem that will arise during construction of the rail line in the downtown Honolulu area is that historic human remains will be uncovered. The Oahu Island Burial Council (part of the State Historic Preservation Division, within the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources) refused to participate in signing a programmatic agreement on October 21, 2009 over concerns about likely issues regarding burial sites located along the line's proposed route over Halekauwila Street in Kakaako. Three construction projects in the area since 2002 have each encountered unforeseen human remains that led to delays, and archaeologist Thomas Dye has stated, "The council is absolutely right that you should expect to find burials on Halekauwila Street."The Burial Council's core contention is the city's decision to conduct an archaeological survey of the rail line's route in phases, meaning construction on a majority of the line will be complete by the time the survey in the Kakaako area is performed, which in turn increases the likelihood that any remains discovered will be moved instead of being allowed to remain in situ. In response to the Burial Council's concerns, the city agreed to begin conducting an archaeological survey of the area in 2010, two years earlier than originally planned. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources later signed the city's programmatic agreement on January 15, 2011, over the continuing concerns of the Burial Council.
The city's decision to conduct the archaeological survey in phases subsequently led to a lawsuit filed on February 1, 2011 by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation
Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation
The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is a non-profit organization dedicated to representing Native Hawaiians in legal disputes over land rights, use of natural resources, sovereignty, and other such issues in Hawai'i.-Sources:**...
on behalf of cultural practitioner Paulette Kaleikini. The suit, which names both the city and the State of Hawaii as defendants, contends that state law requires the full length of the rail line to have an archaeological survey conducted before any construction takes place, and seeks to void the environmental impact statement and all construction permits issued for the project. Kaleikini's lawyers filed on February 18 a request for an injunction to stop work on the project until the case is resolved. The suit was dismissed on March 23, 2011 after Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang ruled that state and federal laws allow the archaeological surveys to be conducted in phases.
Delays
Construction on the HHCTCP rail line was originally scheduled to begin in December 2009, but did not occur owing to delays in the in project review process, including delays in obtaining federal approval of the environmental impact statement.In January 2010, Governor Lingle publicly recommended that the city alter plans for the rail line after news reports on FTA documents where the federal agency raised issues over declining tax revenues in connection with a global economic recession, and commissioned a study by the state to review the project's finances in March. The state financial study, publicly released on December 2, 2010, indicated that the project would likely experience a $1.7 billion overrun above the $5.3 billion projected cost, and that collections from the General Excise Tax would be 30% below forecasts. Lingle's successor, Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie is the 7th and current Governor of Hawaii. He was the Democratic U.S. Representative of the First Congressional District of Hawaii which comprises urban Honolulu. He served in Congress from 1986 to 1987 and from 1991 to 2010 when he resigned to successfully run for governor...
, publicly stated that the financial analysis would not affect his decision to approve or disapprove of the project, saying that the state's responsibility is limited to the environmental review process, and that decisions regarding the project's finances belong to the city and the FTA. Governor Abercrombie subsequently approved the project's final environmental impact statement on December 16, 2010. The Honolulu City Council held a hearing on January 12, 2011 about the state's financial review, but the hearing was not attended by any state officials, who had been invited to testify.
On January 18, 2011, the FTA issued a "record of decision," indicating that the HHCTCP has met the requirements of its environmental review and that the city is allowed to begin construction work on the project. The record of decision allows the city to begin negotiating with owners of land that will be purchased for the project, to begin relocating utility lines to make way for construction of the line and stations, and to purchase rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
for the rail line. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on February 22, 2011 in Kapolei, at the site of the future East Kapolei station along Kualakai Parkway.
Route
The proposed rail line has thirty-six stations and runs from Kapolei to Ala Moana Shopping CenterAla Moana Center
Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is the largest shopping mall in Hawaii, the fifteenth largest shopping mall in the United States, and the largest open-air shopping center in the world....
in Honolulu, where it will split into spurs leading to the University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
campus and Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
. The line will fork near Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium is a stadium located in the Halawa CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Currently Aloha Stadium is home to the University of Hawaii Warriors football team...
into two routes, one passing Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport
Honolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States, with traffic now exceeding 21 million passengers a year and rising.It is located in the Honolulu...
, and the other moving through Salt Lake, before reuniting at Middle Street in Kalihi
Kalihi
thumb|300px|Historically, Kalihi was an [[ahupua'a|ahupuaʻa]], or area of land ruled by chief or king and managed by the members of the [[alii|alii]]Kalihi is a neighborhood community of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States...
. The city currently plans to build the section of the line between eastern Kapolei and Ala Moana Shopping Center, excluding the portion passing Salt Lake, with a total of twenty-one stations along the route. The city council initially decided to build the Salt Lake route before the airport route, the result of a compromise with City Councilmember Romy Cachola, whose constituents include Salt Lake residents. After the city charter amendment on rail transit passed, the City Council reconsidered the decision, and decided to re-route the rail line to pass by Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
and the airport. The line will be served by 128 ft (39 m) long trains, each with a capacity of 390 passengers. The trains will operate with up to twenty departures per hour.
The line is scheduled to open in three phases between 2015 and 2019:
- December 2015: East Kapolei – Aloha Stadium
- October 2017: Aloha Stadium – Middle Street
- March 2019: Middle Street – Ala Moana Center
The rail line, as currently planned, will be built starting from suburban areas in Kapolei and Ewa, and progressing towards the urban center in Honolulu. This is because the first phase includes a baseyard for trains, and a planning decision by the city to delay the major infrastructure impacts associated with construction in the urban center to later phases of the project. Future extensions are planned to eventually service the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and Waikiki, as well as Kalaeloa.
On October 21, 2009, the city announced Kiewit Pacific Co. had won the $483 million contract to build the first two stages of the line, bidding $90 million under the expected price. The stations will be tendered separately. Construction is scheduled to begin in December 2009, pending approval of the environmental impact statement by the state and federal governments and approval of funding from the Federal Transit Administration. Bids for the next section from Pearl Highlands and Aloha Stadium are expected in November 2009.
Ansaldo STS
Ansaldo STS S.p.A. is a multinational technology company which produces signalling and automation systems for use by rail and rapid transit operators. The firm also acts as lead contractor and turnkey provider on new rail developments...
named Ansaldo Honolulu. (AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo STS previously collaborated on the construction and operation of vehicles for the Copenhagen Metro
Copenhagen Metro
Copenhagen Metro is a rapid transit system serving Copenhagen, Frederiksberg and Tårnby in Denmark. The system opened between 2002 and 2007, and has two lines, M1 and M2. The driverless light metro supplements the larger S-train rapid transit system, and is integrated with DSB local trains and...
.) Each car will be 64 ft (19.5 m) long, weigh 72000 lb (32,658.7 kg), and have 36 seats with a listed total capacity of 195 people. The cars will be powered by a third-rail electrification system. The two competing bidders for the rail car contract, Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
and Sumitomo Corporation of America
Sumitomo Corporation
Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide trading company , and is a diversified corporation. Sumitomo is headquartered in the Harumi Island Triton Square Office Tower Y in Chūō, Tokyo, Japan...
, have filed protests over the award.
Planned stations
On September 29, 2009, Oahu Transit Services and the City & County of Honolulu announced plans to build an intermodal transit center that will be located at TheBus' facilities at Middle Street. The $8.2 million dollar project, called The Middle Street Intermodal Center, whose location will take up a large portion of the Middle Street-Kamehameha Highway intersection, is scheduled to open in October 2010. The newly expanded facility will incorporate TheBus, HandiVan, bicycles, cars, walking and the future light rail line, that, once completed in 2017 (after the line expands from the Aloha Stadium portion to the Middle Street station stop during its fourth phase), will include a bridge and walkway for passengers who want to make connections to the rail line from the transit center. In addition, the center will also have a 1000-car parking facility, an enclosed transit layover bay for waiting passengers, an electronic information billboard, a customer service center, two restroom buildings, a utility building and security office.External links
- City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services
- Honolulu On The Move, Official website about the HHCTCP by the City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services
- Go Rail Go, Website of advocacy group supporting the HHCTCP project