Time to get rolling on rail transit

In a little more than a week, work could resume on a project that its advocates have anticipated, in various forms, for four decades. The legal battles over Oahu’s 20-mile, $5.26 billion fixed-rail system have not yet concluded, but a major barrier has been dismantled, and that occasion remains a red-letter day for the City and County.

Assuming the remaining litigation poses no further delay, the developers of Honolulu’s largest public-works initiative, which will link East Kapolei with Ala Moana, must now focus exclusively on bringing in the project on time, within budget and in the plain view of Oahu residents. The public, which has been financing rail with a general excise tax surcharge for more than six years, will have viewing opportunities during key City Council discussions, starting Monday (see box).

The latest hurdle surmounted by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation was the required approval of the project’s archaeological inventory survey, a process that was completed far more quickly than many expected. The State Historic Preservation Division signed off on the 8,000-page report Aug. 29, almost precisely a year after city officials halted construction. It did so in the wake of a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court, which found that the survey must be completed along the entire 20-mile route before work could begin.

The court ruled at the end of a suit filed primarily to challenge HART’s interpretation of state historic-preservation law, including protections for Native Hawaiian burials. The authority also needs re-approval of a special manage- ment area permit that had been thrown out during the state case. But, said HART Executive Director Dan Grabauskas, the Council has stepped up to get the remaining reviews scheduled promptly, which makes a Sept. 16 construction restart possible.

Grabauskas pointed out that each additional day of delay will cost the city roughly $250,000. Given that HART estimates the one-year hiatus for construction has already cost $38 million, the Council has done a service to taxpayers by expediting the rehearing of the SMA permit.

Public hearings on the permit already have been held in the community, he said. Testimony still will be accepted before the Council votes, however, and it’s essential that the people who will be footing the bills get their full opportunity to weigh in.

What remains unresolved is a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on the last major lawsuit, which challenges whether the city had met the bar set by federal law. Federal District Court Judge Wallace Tashima had sided with the city on most of its environmental impact statement review, with three exceptions. Tashima found that:

» The city had not done a full study of above-ground "traditional cultural properties" as required under federal transportation law.

» The city failed to give enough consideration to an alternative that would route the rail through a Beretania Street tunnel before ruling out a full analysis in the EIS.

» The city needed to report back on whether it will "constructively use" Mother Waldron Park, located along the rail alignment in Kakaa-ko.

Nobody can have certainty on how the appellate justices will decide. But there’s reason for optimism that an order stopping work altogether is unlikely, given the tilt of federal and state court rulings to this point.

Opponents of the rail project have raised various critiques, including the charge that the system does not go as far as originally planned, from the far end of Kapolei to the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

It would have been ideal to have such a service, but the fact that the alignment was reduced — to an array of 20 stops that still will offer a practical travel option to many commuters — was based on the cost that elected representatives were willing to authorize. It was a plan vetted through multiple reviews and ratified by public votes.

Fortunately there’s been enough resolve at key junctures to keep this project on course. But, as Grabauskas told the Star-Advertiser editorial board last week, while cash reserves for construction are holding steady, the time contingency is all but exhausted.

If this project is to be finished by 2019 as the current plan maintains, there’s no time left for distraction.

The city must put pedal to the metal, and get the job done right.