HART awards $875 million contract to Middle Street that could be its last
STAR-ADVERTISER
Dan Grabauskas:
HART’s executive director touted the rail contract for falling within year-ago estimates
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Pictured is the progress of construction on July 6 along Kamehameha Highway at a section of rail running alongside the parking lot of Aloha Stadium.
COURTESY HONOLULU AUTHORITY FOR RAPID TRANSPORTATION
The latest contract awarded for the Honolulu rail transit system covers the next 5.2 miles of guideway and four stations, including one at Honolulu Airport, shown in this 2014 rendering. This will get the cash-strapped project as far as Middle Street.
Honolulu officials have just awarded what they hope will not be the last major construction contract for the island’s cash-strapped rail transit system.
Shimmick/Traylor/Granite, a California- and Indiana-based joint venture that’s new to the project, was picked Tuesday for its $875 million proposal to build rail’s next 5.2 miles of elevated guideway and four stations, getting the project as far as Middle Street.
The firm beat out two other finalists: joint ventures Healy/Hawaiian Dredging and Nan-POSEC-HLRT, rail’s top executive announced at a media briefing.
Healy/Hawaiian Dredging bid $1 billion, while the Nan venture bid nearly twice as much as Shimmick — $1.5 billion — for the same work.
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Dan Grabauskas touted Shimmick’s contract price as “good news” because it came in on the high end of a price range that the rail agency estimated a little more than a year ago.
However, he added that the price likely won’t change rail’s larger cash problems. The project still faces a budget deficit that officials now put at $1.5 billion to go all the way to Ala Moana Center.
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Tuesday’s construction contract to Middle Street is the last one that rail officials say they can sign without some new influx of cash.
The Shimmick joint venture will replace Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. to build the next stretch of elevated rail guideway. Kiewit won contracts in 2009 and 2011 to build the first 10 miles or so of guideway, but HART revealed Thursday that the firm opted not to compete for the project’s next phase.
Asked why the firm had not pursued the work, Grabauskas simply stated, “I don’t know.”
“Kiewit does not publicly discuss the reasons we do not pursue specific projects,” Kiewit Public Involvement Manager Alyssa Tenorio said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “However, we can say that after careful analysis of these projects we decided to remain focused on our commitments to the West Oahu/Farrington and Kamehameha Guideway projects and other project pursuits in Hawaii.”
Along with erecting the guideway from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street, Shimmick will build stations at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Honolulu Airport, Lagoon Drive and Middle Street, near a major bus hub at the Kalihi Transit Center.
“They gave a very strong proposal both in terms of quality as well as … the price,” Grabauskas said Tuesday. Due to the large scope of work, the contract was not automatically awarded to the lowest bidder. Instead, rail officials spent several weeks analyzing each proposal and considering other factors beyond just price.
Shimmick has previously worked on a Bay Area Rapid Transit expansion project and a new bridge at the Port of Long Beach in California, according to its website. Some of the subcontractors it’s teaming with for the new rail contract have already worked on the project, including Parsons Transportation Group and Wilson Okamoto Corp., according to documents provided by HART.
Shimmick officials weren’t available for comment late Tuesday, but others who vied for the contract said that how much risk a firm was willing to tolerate could account for the wide range of proposal prices.
“It’s going to be a big battle with HART during construction” because there’s so much underground utility work there, Nan Shin, owner of Nan Inc., said Tuesday after the proposals were unsealed.
Nan has already been awarded rail work, including a $27 million contract for utility relocation along the airport guideway section. On Tuesday Shin estimated there is more than $200 million in utility relocation work remaining along the 5.2-mile stretch of Shimmick’s contract — and he wondered whether the winning venture included that work in its price.
“We are doing some of it, and we are finding unforeseen conditions,” Shin said.
Grabauskas acknowledged Tuesday that “there’s always unknowns” that could drive up costs in the form of change orders, but the project will continue to rely on its contingency dollars should such problems arise.
HART’s budget estimates for the work awarded to Shimmick on Tuesday have varied over the years — they’ve even fluctuated up and down for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.
In 2012, as part of its now-outdated financial plan, the rail agency estimated it would cost $512 million to build the 5.2 miles of guideway and four stations around the airport, documents show.
Shimmick’s $875 million bid does barely fall within a subsequent price range that HART quoted in an April 7, 2015, request for proposal. It estimated the work would cost between $750 million and $875 million.
Later that year however, in October, rail officials had a lower estimate for the same work, at $673 million, according to a HART project cost summary. Then, in March, they estimated it would cost $820 million.
The Shimmick award is what’s known as a design-build contract, meaning the joint venture will now have to create much of its own designs — even though the city has already paid other firms some $54.5 million to do much of that design work under earlier contracts.
Last year rail officials said that they will be able to incorporate at least some of the detailed design work that’s already been done.
Grabauskas added Tuesday that Shimmick’s proposed price indicates rail officials are getting better at predicting contract costs — despite the “crisis of confidence” that has hit rail in recent months over its skyrocketing costs.
“We really do believe that we have a handle on estimating … the price of (what) stations are going to be,” he said. “The real crapshoot for us was we had not bid guideway since 2010. So we had six years and a lot of changes under our belt.”
Many of the problems that have helped drive up rail’s final price tag relate to the final four miles heading into Honolulu’s urban core, such as the project’s daunting utility clearance problems, Grabauskas said.
It remains to be seen whether those four miles will be built.
Hart Airport by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
115 responses to “HART awards $875 million contract to Middle Street that could be its last”
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Just wait for the change orders and it’ll be over a billion!!!
There have been many unforeseen costs. We need rail to go all the way to downtown to achieve full benefit for average locals living on the west side who are suffering in horrendous traffic congestion. We need to focus on the long term future that rail will be essential with our growing population. We just need to find ways to mitigate the cost. The small half percent GE tax for rail is the best way to continue funding since it is least felt and most fair to taxpayers and preferable to raising real property taxes. We have made great progress and stopping rail short at Middle Street would be a foolish mistake.
ukuleleblue says: “There have been many unforeseen costs.”
Here’s the thing. When Mufi Hannemann and Kirk Caldwell sold this project to the public, they spent hundreds of millions on consultants like Parsons-Brinckeroff to generate rosy cost predictions.
Then they spent millions more on misleading TV and print advertising and fake bloggers to convince the public that the financial plan was “solid.”
Governor Lingle’s Financial Analysis, which cost only a tiny, tiny fraction of what we paid for our “solid” financial plan. So this was obviously foreseeable. Then Mayor Carlisle refused to even look at it, so deep was corporate ownership of the Mayors office with rail money flowing. The fact the Mufi, Kirk, and the boys claim they didn’t foresee these massive cost over-runs points to either dishonesty or gross incompetence and dismal planning. Which one do you think it is?
And, please, please, please stop writing that the General Excise Tax which taxes struggling families’ food, medicine, clothing, and rent to pay for this debacle is “fair” and “barely felt.” You know it’s an extremely regressive tax that hits the poor and struggling the hardest. You’ve been told this over and over again and yet you continue to paste it in here.
Who are you trying to convince? Other people who don’t live on Oahu either?
Now, isn’t it time you finally came clean and told everyone where on the mainland that you live and what your connection is to this mess of a rail project? It really time you did.
It matters not if ukuleleblue lives on the moon or in the Amazon jungle: the comments behind the “handle” are as valid as yours …. probably more so, as ululeleblue’s comments lack the constant accusatory tone of misfeasance, nonfeasance, and malfeasance; all without proof, I might add, of your comments.
Marcel’s article is venturing into the area of a commentary rather than a news article.
Jaydeel, both are opinions but one of them are the same thing everyday and the other exposes the truth of that opinion. Just like yours, an opinion without proof!
JayDeeL says: “It matters not if ukuleleblue lives on the moon or in the Amazon jungle: the comments behind the “handle” are as valid as yours”
Actually, I think it matters a great deal where he lives and what his connection is to this rail project if he’s going to make claims and demands regarding tax increases to pay for rail’s out of control spending. Ukuleleblue pastes the same tone-deaf, out-of-touch, condescending boilerplate month after month.
In it he talks about “average locals,” seems blissfully unaware that the train doesn’t serve the west side communities it was promised to, goes to the luxury mall instead of UH, and continually makes claims that no one on Oahu notices taxes on food, medicine and rent to pay for this mess.
I think that if it turns out that he is the kid of a HART executive and lives in NYC that explains why he thinks there should be no upper limit to the cost of rail nor any accountability when Mayor Caldwell and HART executives repeatedly demonstrate that (whether through malfeasance, incompetence, or apathy) they can’t manage this project.
I think the questions I ask ukulelebue are important to evaluating his lazy paste-ups. When he turned the question back around on me, I answered immediately and honestly. They are really easy questions UNLESS he doesn’t want to get caught lying about living on the mainland and having a financial interest tied to continued rail spending like fake million dollar, California based blogger Doug Carlson did.
Why are the costs unforeseen? Didn’t we pay “experts” to study and project these costs? Didn’t we hire a project manager with pertinent experience to foresee these issues?
What was unforeseen was the utter incompetence of the City, the Mayor, HART and Grabuaskas.
Well maybe not unforeseen, some of us predicted this before the rail broke ground.
Billions over budget, years behind schedule. Ewa plains to Middle street. Truly a boondoggle rail to nowhere.
Nope. It’s true the GET tax is the best financial way to fund rail. Any other way will cost more.
Weewee cost more to who? The average business man? How will it cost more you self proclaimed fake kupuna?
wiliki says: “Nope. It’s true the GET tax is the best financial way to fund rail. Any other way will cost more”
Right now we are paying the State of Hawaii a full 10 percent of collections. Do you know of a tax that costs MORE?
JayDee, The points Kalaheo makes are valid and I know exactly what the person is thinking logically and emotionally as I have lived here all my life and plan to die here when my time comes. We fought against this train from its inception and argued the many points against the conjectures of the pro rail crowd. We told them their numbers were all smoke and mirrors and yet here we stand today as they tell us to suck it up and pay up. NUFF ALREADY!
It’s the NO parrot again JayD. Somebody open the window.
In comparison our sewer charges for a smaller amount are much higher than the GET.
the GET tax surcharge is 1/2 of one percent, 0.005%. Federal income taxes are way higher, like 25%. Tell me, which hurts more?
Vector says: “the GET tax surcharge is 1/2 of one percent, 0.005%. Federal income taxes are way higher, like 25%. Tell me, which hurts more?”
Okay.
The GET is NOT a simple says tax. Pretending it is is dishonest and AS YOU KNOW it gets added in multiple times per item as it changes hands. And it taxes essential items like food, rent, clothing and medicine. It’s highly regressive and hits struggling families and the poor the hardest. This is well known and not in dispute.
The Federal Income Tax? Had of all Americans pay no income tax at all, and the poor and struggling are spared.
So YOU tell me, which hurts local struggling families more?
Your federal income tax is taken out before you even see the money. Unlike the GET surcharge, while its small, it gets taken out of everything you buy, whether it’s food, gas medication, rent, clothes, etc.
Not seeing the money to begin with hurts less then knowing you have the money and a little extra gets taken everytime you buy something.
Kalaheo1, suppose you can project costs and schedules, then you should help HART with the cost projections and schedule, since you know it all
Uku: “The project still faces a budget deficit that officials now put at $1.5 billion to go all the way to Ala Moana Center.”
So, do you know where this money (and any additional money for new “unforeseen costs”) is coming from? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Some money comes from trash pickup only once a week instead of twice . Flies now all over!
More “bass-ackwards” thinking by the officials, Grabby and SA. If this section costs just under 1 Billion dollars, how can you estimate just 1.5 billion for the stretch to Ala Moana, notably the most difficult and costliest leg, yet to come. You can’t fool all of us, all the time.
Glad to see the 5.2 miles of rail metro guide way between Aloha Stadium and Middlle St., has been awarded. The contract builds the Pearl Harbor Naval Base metro station, the Airport metro station, the Lagoon Drive metro station, and the Middle Street(Bus Transit)metro station. The Airport metro station will allow people to go to the airport on the metro without their cars, or without having someone drive them, or needing a taxi. When the Ala Moana Center metro station is built, tourists will be able ride the metro between Waikiki and the Airport, making it a convenient, quick, inexpensive and scenic ride.
Vector says: “When the Ala Moana Center metro station is built, tourists will be able ride the metro between Waikiki and the Airport, making it a convenient, quick, inexpensive and scenic ride.”
Errr, have you been to Waikiki? What about Ala Moana Mall? You seem to think they are in the same place.
A family of four from Topeka, Kansas get off the airplane with carry-on luggage, and two large suitcases each. They have been traveling 15 hours. they are hot sweaty and tired. Please describe how they get from baggage claim to the Surf Rider.
kalaheo1, the Ala Moana Rail Station is only a short shuttle, bus or taxi ride to the Surfrider. You are so dense, you cannot even measure distances
Kalaheo1, I did not mention the Fed income tax is from 25% to 35% of income, and add to that the State income tax, the 0.04% GET tax. The 0.005% GET for rail is minuscule to all the taxes we are paying
WAKE UP HAWAII!!!!!! Do not continue to Middle Street but stop the Guide way at the Stadium and make it into a reversible highway. Just think no RAIL CARS AND NO FUTURE OVERHEAD + TRAFFIC WILL BE REDUCED BY THE ADDITION OF 2 MORE LANES COUNTRA FLO. WAKE UP HONOLULU If it goes to Middle street or anywhere that they need the choo choo we will be paying forever for nothing more than a union welfare project. WAKE UP & THINK HONOLULU!!!!!
Hey UKbs, where is the money going to come from to build the electric plant to power this silly train?
The question also is who the heck is going to build it. I don’t hear HECO saying anything..
How about more wind turbines and solar panel farms, on land and on the ocean.
Build rail as planned. Its important for the future of our children and grandchildren.
To H+E*L-L with your needy children and grandchildren
Not my children or grandchildren. More proof you are a fake self proclaimed rail kupuna. No kupuna would have done this to the land or burden our keiki with this black hole.
Kupuna that you BS artists don’t have any regard for the future of our children and grandchildren.
Most Oahu children and grandchildren will not see any benefit from rail.
Weewee you better look up the definition of a kupuna. You fake self proclaimed rail kupuna. You made the claim you are a kupuna you are far from one. In case you need a reminder here is the definition senile, lying P-o-S. The term has been stated to be the embodiment of natural respect . . . . a practitioner of aloha (love), pono (righteousness), malama (caring), and spirituality.
wiliki – There you go again with the same shibai comment you have used over and over, only to have it shot down as totally irrelevant.
Fact is rail will ruin the future of our children and grandchildren by burying them in annual property tax increases to subsidize money pit rail’s O&M costs. They will quickly see the folly in rail, leave the Nei for a far higher quality of life on the mainland, more economical, more to see and do.
Our children and grandchildren will always ask how their parents could have been so naive to believe the rail bureaucrats line of shibai, “Rail will be on time, on budget.”
Blah blah blah. You just keep saying the same thing over and over. P.S. I pay about $4,000 per year in excise tax.
So you make $100k plus in sales?
Again, please. The GET is not a simple sales tax. You know better.
And there’s a good chance he’s a small business owner.
Maybe $4,000 but not all to the rail tax.
Totally agree, there have been many change orders. Watch when they start digging into coral and water starts coming up. Notice the number of drainage canals under and around the airport.
Funny how the upper limit of the revised estimate was $875 million and the winning bid was $875 million – yet another bid was almost twice that. How convenient. If anyone thinks this project will be completed for $875 million you are delusional. Grabby again shows his slippery side – he knows full well why Kiewit did not bid on this section of the project – his “I don’t know” is another of his thousands of bold faced lies he has laid on the public. Can anyone tell me why Grabby is still employed on this mess of a project?
I wish everyone would look closely at this picture. Most people on Oahu, who do NOT go out to Waipahu nor have seen the concrete track that is up so far, you have no idea what this huge, concrete monstrosity is going be like in downtown Honolulu. Actually, everywhere it is located. These stations, so many that are located too close together for no intelligent reason, are not only going to be a huge eyesore, but are precisely the reason the rail costs so much. The concrete companies and contractors are laughing all the way to the bank. The comments below in support of ‘salvaging’ the rail project are written by people that still have no clue as to what this boondoggle will COST in the future. NEVER MIND WHAT IT COSTS TODAY!!! Sadly, the same people that sold this project (and its construction costs) are the same ones telling you what it will cost to operate ten years from now. Really? Why should we believe anything we are told anymore?? Projections have been so wrong and the project so poorly mismanaged, the taxpaying public has no reason to believe anything more related to the rail project. Its been one continuous unbelievable joke from inception. Those of us opposed to this have been right all along. We all knew, based on the City and State’s performance with other smaller scale projects, had no reason to believe that either gov’t entity would be able to design, contract, and operate a Rail project, as proposed, and do it on budget, on time. What upsets us more than anything, are those who argued we would be wrong. History has shown (again) that rail opponents were correct in their predictions. In fact, problems (as expected) are worse than imagined. It will only become a bigger problem as time goes by.
Is that what unknown means?
I got to hand it to Keiwit. They know a sinking ship when they see one.
Make the easy money when it’s cornfields and leave when it hits buildings and roads and the money is gone.
The ship sank shortly after the rail broke ground.
The State ship sank before the rail metro project started, when we were in a deep recession and our economy stagnant. Nearly 50% of the workers in the construction industry were without work. No development was happening, State and City tax revenue were down to the point, where public services like highway and road repairs were put on hold, social services for the needy were reduced, teachers had furlough Fridays. Since the start of the rail metro project, the construction industry now is nearly fully employed, hiring more, and recruiting on the mainland for skilled and experienced workers. Unemployment now is the lowest in the nation, and the rail metro construction and the commercial and residential development on the island have given us a booming economy, one of the best performing in the nation, and the world
Here in Hawaii, we have an economy based on tourism. When “real” economies do well, we do well.
When economies crash like in 2001 and 2008, then no one has money for expensive Hawaii vacations and things dry up here.
We are “the canary in the coal mine.” We our economy does well, you can bet that other economies are doing well and bringing money into the state via Delta and United, Hawaiian and JAL.
Basing an economy on using taxpayer dollars to pour concrete on a island with a limited landmass is sheer foolishness. Pretending the tail is wagging the dog is even more foolish.
Yup. Kiewit saw the iceberg looming ahead and abandoned ship.
Kiewit had enough on their plate to do for the first ten miles. The just want to complete those 10 miles.
Nope that was the easy part. Next 10 miles the most difficult you read the statement from Nan about the problems that exist with utilities.
Good thing everyone is now under the magnifying glass. Knowing that the project now ends at Middle St they are going to want to milk as much dollars as they can with “unforeseen” costs.
Mufi’s folly roll on…
The majority of the population is … what is the politically correct word for s*upid? They voted for it.
Hawaii is truly America’s own third world country. Does projects in reverse with little regard for openness. If the rail is built, it will be like the H-1. Screwed up.
What about the H-3? ……Seems fine to me!
Apples and oranges.
What about it? Remember at the time that it took longer to build than the Great wall of China. lol
Was supposed to be 3 lanes in both directions and then they reduced it by A third. Is that what you are referring to?
Those of us from Hawaii remember that over $50 million was simply throws out in the construction of H3. They purchased cables to shield cars from the Navy’s submarine antenna. What they forgot to do was talk to the Navy who decommissioned their antenna prior to the completion of the H3. The Navy’s plan to decommission the antenna was established many years earlier….
Ah, the Faraday Shield to protect against EMF from the Coast Guard Loran Station antenna in Haiku Valley. I remember the concern for those with pacemakers. Were any costs recouped from the materials that may have been purchased for the Faraday Shield for H-3?
“”Screwed up.””
Got that right boots, especially with a majority of democrats in charge.
I believe the first section was done when republicans were in control? You know the worst part?
Sorry, you are mistaken. Not to mention on the Federal level the democrat was in the white house. LOL
hmm…The city is charge of the rail fiasco. I didn’t realize there were any Democrats sitting on the City Council. You saying Caldwell is a Republican? Wait! Why don’t we blame Bush!
Sorry…meant Republicans sitting on the City Council. Girls in bikinis passed by me
@Boots:”Hawaii is truly America’s own third world country.” Look at how immigration from third world has changed the composition of the population. Third word people make it a third world country. The good times are over because of that.
Hawaii has always been a state based upon immigrants. Who picked the pineapples and harvested the sugar cane? Don’t think you can really blame the immigrants. Might be some basis to Hawaii being a one party state but sadly that is the fault of the republican party for abandoning republican principles. Sorry, Voodoo just won’t work so why even bother with them?
“Might be some basis to Hawaii being a one party state but sadly that is the fault of the republican party for abandoning republican principles.”
More like brain dead union members blindly voting part lines.
“Was always..” you say. Times have changed now we are overpopulated everything went bad.
Add all those change orders and this final segment should be way over a billion dollars. Wanna Bet ?
I agree closer to Nan Inc. bid or higher.
Kalaheo1, has such a warped view of our economy. Our economy does not rely on tourism only to perform well. Construction, development and the military are all contributors to the health and growth of our economy. The rail metro project has contributed to our hot construction industry and our high employment, and our improving economy, which is one of the best performing in the nation and in the world
Good old saying, Bid low, with cost over-runs, you’re bound to make your money back.
Won’t have riders anyway unless they crank up the tax on gas (which Caldwell already tried to do) and crank up vehicle
Registrations fees. Basically tax people out of their cars. Then they will shut down bus routes which they have readily admitted to. It begs the question, why not just leave the bus with dedicated fast lanes for one tenth the cost? Anyway with no planned parking at most of the stations people will still take two busses plus the train to get where they want to go. The result? Not too many riders for 10 billion dollars.
The biggest difference between the H-3 highway vs the rail is the expected annual operating costs our tax payers will pay to maintain. The rail is estimated to cost us over $100 million to operate? The H-3? Not much needed to upkeep except for filling in pot holes?
And the H3 actually relieved traffic for Windward commuters. The rail will cost between 12 and 20 million dollars monthly to operate and maintain.
And seriously, who’s going to ride it from Ewa or Peal city to Middle street?
Middle Street? No. But I will ride Ewa to Pearl City/Aiea/Pearl Harbor? Saves wear and tear on my car ’cause the roads will NEVER be fixed properly (not to mention dealing with drivers that shouldn’t be allowed to hold keys for a vehicle much less operate one, ESPECIALLY our so-called professional CDL drivers! ROBERTS HAWAII, Trolley, C&C trash trucks, etc…you guys paying attention?).
How much are you willing to pay for using the rail? do you have any idea what the fare would be?
Everyday you say the same thing. Where do your independent cost estimates come from for operating costs–looks like a very high round number SWAG!
The operation and maintenance fees have been estimated between 120 and 130 million dollars annually. It came from the city and HART.
However, the original estimate (Lie) from moofi hanneman was 80 million annually. The rail is not running and the cost is now estimated at about 120 or 130 million annually.
The real cost will be higher because nobody except HART believes that we will have 119,000 daily weekday riders.
tomcorey read much? Costs and figures were also printed in Pacific Business News along with the breakdown of estimated revenues. The train will be running in the negative and they know it.
Metro fares- rode the metro in many cities in France. You can buy the tickets at automatic vending machines at the station. You can buy a single ticket, or multiple tickets. I bought 10 tickets for $15, which is $1.50 a ticket. When you enter the metro station, you insert your ticket at the gate, and go to the metro line platform that will take you where you want to go. You do not need another ticket to make transfers to other metro lines. The same tickets can be used for the buses within the city. The metro is way cheaper and quicker to get around a city. It takes you to where you want to go, without all the street traffic, intersections, and stops. Some cities also have ferries, and you can use the same ticket to get across the river. The metro is also great way to get around for tourists. Many metro stations are located where there are many tourist attractions, and lively and scenic neighborhoods. And costs way less than a taxi
Even after revising the cost for the airport to middle street section multiple times, the lowest bid still came in $50 million more then estimated. That is if the contractor can build it within that budget without any change orders, but as history shows, change orders are inevitable and will just raise the cost even more.
Fire wiliki. He lies about rail.
Examples of his lies:
“Rail is already paid for”
“Rail has a solid financial plan”
“Djou wants to shut down the rail”.
That’s a beautiful-looking station. Can’t wait!
Now imagine it with broken escalators (like at the airport) black mold and graffiti and a homeless camp underneath it.
And lovely scent of urine wafting about daily
Why is traffic so bad that we even talked about mass transportation? Darn Immigration caused darn overpopulation!
Another dishonest decision made by HART. They are well aware that it will cost more yet accept the contract so they can continue work hoping for more funding from the taxpayers. Why can’t HART contract for a scope of work that they/we can afford and stop deceiving the taxpayers???
I thought Colleen would add some discipline to HART’s way of thinking but I was wrong….
You’re kidding right? Hanabatta is already planning on what furniture she wants for her DC congressional office…
Another scam being created. There’s no design plan to have the rail end at Middle Street. And do we have monies to even reach Middle Street.
Going run out of money with the change orders.
If the rail ends at Middle Street, will it work as an end terminal? Don’t they have to build something else so that the trains can move from one track to the other track? The train can’t just reverse direction because there are other trains behind it.
A crossover track.
Let’s extend the rail to UH Manoa! Let’s extend the rail to Ko Olina! Let’s build a rail spur into Waikiki! Let’s build a rail spur to Mililani!
And build the bridge to Maui.
Why not ask for a spur to Hawaii Kai, or Kailua and Kaneohe. Heck, while you at it, why not Kahuku or laie too.
And spur to Kauai and the Marshal Islands!!!
Why do they have to be so high and so ugly?
Way less ugly than all the freeways, overpasses, on and off exits, and roadways hugging the ground. Especially the airport viaduct.
It’s become very difficult to believe anything that HART announces. Is this a good bid? I guess we’ll find out in a year or 2. As one of the other bidders quoted, the big $$ unknown, is underground utilities? Sounds like Dillingham Blvd?
Don’t forget the change orders. Sum will be over $! billion.
Can you believe what Nan “Patrick” Shin says, though? http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Mar/09/ln/FP603090357.html
Shimmick/Traylor/Granite, a California- and Indiana-based joint venture.
Local jobs for local people right?
Now, before anyone starts saying that they’ll hire locally, let’s not forget that there was a report not long ago saying there was a shortage of construction workers due to the construction boom.
So do the math, if there isn’t enough local workers for this company to hire, guess where the workers will be coming from and where their paychecks will be going.
polekasta, you should have bid on the project and you could use all of your local friends to build the rail metro project, and while you are at it, you can find some cheap local homeless people to help you
Wow, so since you can’t refute the fact that workers might have to be brought in from the mainland to work on rail, you try to belittle me. Wow, what class.
I’m guessing you forgot the aloha stadium incident where local construction unions made a big stink about the contractor doing repairs to the stadium roof using mainland workers instead of local workers.
The project is governed by a Rapid Transit Stabilization Agreement with local unions. The workers will come from local union benches.
What about the “contract” to build an entirely new fossil fuel electric generator on Oahu to power the train? Current HECO power resources are inadequate to power the train. What about the cost of the electricity to power the train which would easily be over $100 MILLION per year, which is close to what UH and the DOE each pay for electricity. Just end the dang rail project as it nothing but a complete failure of a make work project to make connected people rich all at Hawaii taxpayer’s expense.
Someone should look into the procurement process for current construction projects for STATE/DOE . There is a lot of cost over run, no over sight, poor management, unnecessary change orders, over inflated prices and deadlines not being met….GOOD EXAMPLE: A/C QUOTES
Kiewit Infrastructure West Co did not bid. They know trouble’s on the horizon an wont’ touch it with a ten foot pole. Be shipping out the heavy equipment once rough in is complete. Housing and construction will be at a downturn by the time we reach Middle Street. History repeats itself and the next cycle begins, there will be condos that can’t be sold, stalled projects with rusting crane’s all about. Joint venture’s will not come to fruition because of the economy.
I always thought It would be a long time before self driving cars come about. But technology is transforming how people travel and live their lives a at blistering speed. We may end up with a huge bill and a obsolete train that would not make sense to build further.
It seems like such an incomplete project to stop short like that. So many users of rail will need to go to downtown. What would they do? Bring their bikes to finish the trip? Doesn’t make sense to me…
They will forget about riding the rail and drive their cars.
Its time to burst the rail bubble. What exactly are the benefits of rail? Car commuters who need their cars during the day get no benefit. First responders and civil defense get no benefit. Our number one business Waikiki gets no benefit. Only a few thousand transit riders per day will ride rail – the majority being forced to ride because their old bus routes are now rail feeder routes. There is no money to pay the annual operating expenses. There is no money to buy new trains in 30 years when they stop working. The entire TOD plan is just another estimate. If there is low ridership, the TOD plans look worse. Each person on Oahu will pay $4,200.00 in rail GET surcharge over the 21 years. That’s $16,800 for a family of four. So, what are the benefits of this project that are worth taking 4 billion dollars out of our pockets?
This is a design build projects, hold the contractors at cost. No unforeseen price adjustments.