Reaction to the possibility of a rapid transit line through Nuuanu Valley remains restrained and cautious.

Kenneth Kupchak, chairman of the Kailua Neighborhood Board, said the important thing is to consider what development plans are ahead for the Windward Community. Kupchak believes any rapid transit proposal could not be pushed through quickly, and it may be five years or more before anything is decided.

"The planning implications are No. 1," Kupchak said. "Then we will see what the transportation alternatives should be."

The City’s "development plan" for Kailua could come long before that, Kupchak believes, possibly in only two years.

The Kailua Neighborhood Board has not taken a position on the controversial TH-3 freeway or any of the proposed alternatives. Kupchak noted that there is a proposal in the State Legislature to study the possibility of building a reverse busway system on either the Pali or Likelike Highway.

E. Alvey Wright, State transportation director, tossed out the rapid transit option last week as one of the possibilities to replace the State’s first choice, the route through Moanalua Valley.

The other option is through Halawa Valley, but Wright appeared to downgrade that choice since similar historical questions loom as possible roadblocks. …

Wright mentioned last week that any construction through Nuuanu Valley must be done with sensitivity to the "proximity" of historic locations, or the entire matter could end up in the courts again.

Wright’s basic idea is to process the environmental impact statement for the Nuuanu route, if that is the option selected, at the same time as the environmental impact statement for the City’s rapid transit line.

Then he believes the federal TH-3 funds could be protected and eventually shifted over to cover the Windward transit leg.

There appears to be no immediate danger that Hawaii will lose the TH-3 funds. The federal money, which supports 90 percent of the highway costs, is actually part of a big pot which applies to all segments of the approved Interstate Highway system in Hawaii.