The Honolulu rail authority has yet to submit a firm design for Dillingham Boulevard utility construction work or formally apply for the permits it needs to restrict traffic flow there to one lane in each direction, raising new doubts about the rail authority’s timeline for some critically important construction work.

Last week Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Andrew Robbins announced the rail authority plans to restrict traffic flow on part of Dillingham Boulevard to one lane in each direction starting in late March to allow contractors to work night and day to speed up utility relocation for the $9.2 billion rail project.

But Deputy Director of Transportation Services Jon Nouchi said in an interview that HART still hasn’t submitted a final traffic management plan that is required before the lane closures can be allowed, has not submitted a related traffic control plan and has not even submitted a firm design for the utility relocation work it plans to do along the Dillingham corridor.

“We need to have a set of plans, we need to have a design, we need to have a proposal before we can give any credence to closing the street,” Nouchi said.

Nouchi said he cannot predict how long it will take his office to evaluate HART’s plans once it has them, or when DTS will issue the necessary permits for the lane closures. However, DTS Director Wes Frysztacki warned HART in October that DTS would need at least a month to review a complete permit package for the project.

What is normally an obscure lane-closure permitting process is becoming a touchy issue for the city. Bus ridership alone in the corridor averages about 10,000 rides a day, but businesses along the Dillingham corridor account for thousands of jobs, and the thoroughfare is used by about 30,000 residents of the area, Nouchi said.

HART, meanwhile, urgently needs construction to move faster on the utility relocation work if the 20-mile rail system is to fully open as scheduled in December 2025. Rail officials say they must close all but one lane of Dillingham Boulevard in each direction so crews can work more quickly to move power, water and sewer lines out of the way of the planned rail line.

The city has already awarded a contract worth up to $400 million to Nan Inc. to complete the utility work along the rail line, and now plans to hire a second contractor to accelerate the pace of construction.

HART had previously planned to begin the Dillingham Boulevard lane closures on Nov. 12. Robbins told the rail authority board Thursday the lane closures and around-the-clock Dillingham utility relocation work have been delayed primarily “for two reasons: the completion of the traffic management plan and obtaining approvals from city DTS, and also certain aspects of the design are still progressing and not yet completed.”

Robbins told the HART board the design of the Dil­lingham segment from Middle Street to Mokauea Street is complete, but the design from Mokauea Street across Kapalama Stream to Kaaahi Street is not finished.

“We need to pick up the pace on the design, and part of the issue with completing the design is all the third-party reviews as well, so we’re working with (Hawaiian Electric) and others, the city, to pick up the pace on the third-party reviews so that AECOM can complete those designs and that will no longer be a bottleneck for us as well, ” Robbins said.

Frank Kosich, director of engineering and design for HART, told the rail authority board Thursday that HART expects to receive 10 additional design submittals by the end of the month, and “we’re on the cusp of concluding the design and getting the work going.”

Last week HART released a report by a consultant to the Federal Transit Administration that said delays in getting city permits for the utility relocation work as well as the need to increase the contractor’s capacity to do the job are delaying the award of yet another huge city contract for a public- private partnership to complete construction of the rail line.

HART spokesman Bill Brennan told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a written exchange Jan. 6 that the traffic management plan for Dil­lingham Boulevard had already been submitted to DTS, but Nouchi said that is incorrect.

“To be very clear, DTS has not received a traffic management plan or any documents related to the utility relocations along the Dillingham corridor,” Nouchi said. “Yes, we have been meeting with HART on these issues, but we are waiting for the proper submittals.”

HART sent DTS a technical memo in December that discussed a 2014 traffic management plan prepared for construction of rail stations in the Dillingham corridor, but that 6-year-old traffic plan did not cover the utility relocation work, Nouchi said.

“Coordination has been coming, but we need their designs and their final traffic management plan to actually issue street permits,” he said. “We’ve received preliminary ideas, sketches, conceptual information in terms of what they would like in terms of times of closures, but we have not received the traffic management plan.”

Last week Robbins said he expects the traffic management plan will be completed by Feb. 24 and be ready for DTS to review “so that we can look forward to obtaining the permits that we need for the major road closures.”

HART plans to hold a public meeting at Kalihi Kai Elementary School on March 10 to notify the public in advance of the new lane closures, and to begin the road closures about two weeks later, Robbins said.