A longtime local construction industry leader will replace Colleen Hana- busa on the board overseeing Oahu’s financially troubled rail project.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced his pick of Glenn Nohara to join the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board Friday, just as Hanabusa stepped down after nearly a year and a half with the agency.

Nohara has logged more than 40 years in the local building sector, and he serves as chairman of Koga Engineering &Construction, a company he has been with since 1984, according to the firm’s website. Prior to his time at Koga, Nohara worked at Hawaiian Dredging Construction as a cost and project engineer as well as a superintendent.

“I’ve always supported the rail,” Nohara said in a phone interview Thursday. Caldwell asked Nohara to join the board a week ago, and he thought about it overnight before accepting, Nohara said. “For me that’s a long time,” he quipped.

HART has undergone several key leadership changes in the past several months as the state’s largest-ever public works project faces a $1.8 billion budget gap and an uncertain future.

The Nohara pick announcement came a day after the HART board unanimously voted to hire Krishniah Murthy as its interim executive director and CEO. He’ll start Dec. 5 and replace acting Executive Director Mike Formby, who’s set to resign Nov. 7.

Caldwell notified the City Council by letter of Nohara’s pick Thursday. In a separate statement the mayor touted Nohara’s “years of private sector engineering and construction experience, particularly in estimating construction costs for projects.”

Rail in the past two years has been plagued by skyrocketing costs and officials’ seeming inability to keep pace with their estimates. Since December the projected cost has grown by more than $3.3 billion. The latest official estimates put rail’s total price tag at $8.6 billion.

Koga’s website lists Nohara as a graduate of the University of Hawaii in civil engineering and of Roosevelt High School.

Meanwhile, Hanabusa, a former Hawaii congresswoman, looks to return to Congress this fall.

“It is with genuinely mixed emotions that I submit this letter,” Hanabusa wrote to Caldwell in her resignation letter. “I remain confident that HART will address its challenges, complete the project in its entirety, and make a lasting difference for the City and County of Honolulu.”

Caldwell appointed Hanabusa to the HART board in June 2015, and she became its chairwoman in April following Don Horner’s departure from the project. She then led the board during an extensive closed-door performance review of Dan Grabauskas, which culminated in a mutual agreement in August for his resignation.

Hanabusa and Formby have worked together closely in the past several months to guide the project. Nonetheless, Hanabusa said Thursday that she believed they’re leaving the project in capable hands.

“I’ve worked with this present board, and I have full confidence that they’ll continue,” she said after her final HART meeting. “And you know, no one or two people are the board. The board is the board.”

The rail board will now have to select a new chairman to replace her.