A solid majority of Oahu voters maintain the island’s rail transit project still should be built to Ala Moana Center as planned, the latest Hawaii Poll found.

However, when asked who would best handle rail-related issues, more island voters said they prefer the mayoral candidate who opposes using any more local tax dollars to help the severely cash-strapped project reach that destination.

Some 62 percent of voters insist rail should go to Ala Moana Center, while 25 percent felt construction should stop immediately and another 10 percent contend the system should stop at Middle Street, the poll found.

Only 2 percent of voters polled said they didn’t know what should be done about rail given its new giant financial troubles or refused to answer.

At the same time, 43 percent of voters polled said mayoral candidate and former Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou would do the best job addressing rail issues.

Djou has said that he would hold the transit project to its existing local tax revenues, which combined with federal tax dollars are expected to generate about $6.8 billion to work with. Rail officials now say it will be virtually impossible to build the full project as planned on that budget. Djou has said he’s “open to any reasonable alternative” to building the full elevated 20-mile system to Ala Moana Center, such as incorporating bus rapid transit or street-level light rail into the design.

Last week Djou said that he would be open to pursuing more federal tax dollars to help build the system.

Meanwhile, 31 percent of Oahu voters in the poll said Mayor Kirk Caldwell is the best candidate to address rail-related issues. Some 15 percent of voters said Caldwell’s predecessor, Peter Carlisle, is best suited.

Escalating construction prices have helped drive up the project’s official cost estimate by about 60 percent since Caldwell took office in January 2013. Nonetheless, the mayor says he’s determined to find the means to build the full elevated system to Ala Moana Center even though rail officials say the project’s budget now gets it as far as Middle Street.

Caldwell has asked federal partners in the rail project to postpone until next summer the city’s Aug. 7 deadline to come up with a “recovery” plan. That would buy local rail leaders time to pursue more federal dollars after the 2016 national election, as well as more state dollars during the 2017 legislative session and funding partnerships with private developers along the planned line.

Carlisle also said he’s open to using more local tax dollars to fund the full 20-mile elevated line.

“I think that it seems kind of silly to stop midway through the island. This would provide quick, affordable transportation to one of the biggest shopping areas we have,” 67-year-old Kailua resident Kathy Bowers, who took part in the poll, said in a follow-up interview Friday.

Bowers said Djou “overall would do the best job” on rail. “He will be pragmatic about it,” she said.

Caldwell often expresses strong vocal support for the project, and “sometimes that’s good,” Bowers said. “But with politicians you’ve got to be able to look at all different sides.”

Lori Murakami, a 52-year-old Windward resident, said she too wants to see the full line built so that Oahu has a system comparable to other U.S. cities. However, she said, Caldwell would handle the project better as mayor.

“He’s for the rail. He wants to finish it. And there’s been lots of other people trying to stop the rail,” Murakami said Friday.

An overwhelming majority of Oahu voters — 81 percent — remain adamant that their property taxes should not be raised in order to keep building the rail line past Middle Street, the poll found.

The Hawaii Poll, conducted June 30 to July 9 on cellphones and landlines, included 401 registered voters on Oahu. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.9 points.

20160718 Hawaii Poll Tables July 2016 – Rail by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd