The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has issued a “notice to proceed” to its chosen contractor that is tasked with finishing the nearly $10 billion Skyline project by the start of the next decade.

In August, HART awarded a $1.66 billion contract to Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini Corp. to design and build rail’s last, 3-mile segment to Kakaako.

Issued Monday, the rail agency’s notice to proceed means the contractor’s design work for the City Center Guideway and Stations project has begun.

“A notice to proceed is a formal document that informs the contractor that they can begin work on a construction project, per the terms of the contract,” HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email.

“After the notice of award is issued, the awarded vendor must execute the contract,” she said. “This includes finalizing the contractual terms, obtaining signatures from both the contractor and the contracting agency, and ensuring all legal and financial obligations are met.”

“Project design began immediately on Oct. 7,” she added, “while the start of construction is estimated in the second half of 2025.”

The scope of the new contract includes the design and construction of six rail stations and about three miles of elevated rail guideway beginning just east of the Middle Street Transit Center Station in Kalihi, according to HART.

The project will end at the Civic Center Station, east of the intersection at Halekauwila and South streets, HART said.

Construction of this segment will be completed by 2030 and transferred to the city Department of Transportation Services in 2031, HART said.

Kahikina noted that according to HART’s August monthly progress report, the rail project has incurred to date a cost of $5.8 billion.

But due to project cost concerns, some rail-related work may be deferred.

Previously, HART staff told the Star-­Advertiser that “a small number of specialized projects are being considered for the deferral, but final decisions about deferrals have not yet been made.”

They said no project being considered for deferral will affect the CCGS timeline, nor are those deferred projects part of the project’s full funding grant agreement, or FFGA — the formal contract between the city and Federal Transit Administration — that provides $1.55 billion toward Skyline’s construction.

HART also seeks more money to fund rail’s ongoing construction.

In late September the rail agency petitioned the state Department of Budget and Finance to appropriate $1 billion from state funds for the agency’s next two budget cycles.

The $1 billion would come from the mass transit special fund, created under a 2017 state law known as Act 1.

According to the legislation, in 2005 Honolulu adopted an ordinance to establish a 0.5% surcharge on state tax, “for that surcharge to be levied, assessed, and collected beginning on Jan. 1, 2007, to fund a rail transportation project.”

The state law allows the city and county to receive local tax revenue through 2031.

During a Sept. 25 HART board of directors special meeting, the panel approved a formal letter signed by board Chair Colleen Hana­busa to request that state-level appropriation.

She noted the reason for calling the special meeting, and drafting a letter to the state, was because “technically, we’re already late.”

“It should have gone into the request of the (budget and finance committee) to the governor,” Hanabusa said. “We have to now kind of catch up, but they were willing to do this for us, so we have to get this to them as soon as possible.”

According to the board’s letter, the amount of general excise tax and transient accommodations tax “HART is eligible to receive is limited to the amount deposited in the (mass transit special fund) subject to the audit and certification provisions of Act 1.”

“This appropriation request eliminates the need for emergency appropriation requests for fiscal years 2026 and 2027,” the letter states.

In addition, HART must submit its annual operating and capital budgets to the city administration for fiscal year 2026 by Dec. 1.

According to the rail agency, 2025’s total operating budget will rise to $175 million — an increase of $36.6 million, or 26.5%, over the rail agency’s current $138.3 million spending plan.

HART’s main funding sources — local taxes and federal funding — total $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2026, budget plans indicate.

Federal funding sources for 2025 total $125 million, or about 10.2% of the project’s funding budget, compared with over $491.2 million, or about 40%, derived from local taxes, according to HART.