HART board approves rail recovery plan
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Construction of the Honolulu rail line progresses along Kamehameha Highway, looking toward the Arizona Memorial near Center Drive, earlier this month.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Construction of the Honolulu rail line progresses along Kamehameha Highway (looking toward Aloha Stadium) near the Arizona Memorial entrance earlier this month.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Construction of the Honolulu rail line progresses as seen from H-1 after the airport traveling toward Kamehameha Highway and Aloha Stadium earlier this month. The support pillars are rising up along Kamehameha Highway.
The board of the Honolulu rail authority approved a new “recovery plan” for the city rail project today, just in time to meet a deadline set by the Federal Transit Administration.
The recovery plan is the city’s updated outline for how it will complete the rail 20-mile line from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center. It is the largest public works project in state history, and has been plagued by years of delays and cost overruns.
The city signed an agreement with the Federal Transit Administration in 2012 that called for rail’s elevated guideway and 21 stations to be built for $5.26 billion by 2020.
At the instruction of the FTA, the new recovery plan outlines a path to complete the rail project for $8.299 billion in construction costs plus $897 million in financing costs, for a total of $9.196 billion.
However, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation says in the recovery plan it is determined to hold its construction costs to $8.165 billion.
HART also says it is determined to finish the project in late 2025, but a consultant for the FTA estimates there is only a 65 percent chance the project will be completed by September of 2026.
The HART board unanimously approved the 147-page recovery plan this morning without discussion.
The FTA has withheld nearly $744 million in funding for the project until the city develops an acceptable recovery plan, and in September the FTA asked the city to produce the recovery plan by Nov. 20.
State lawmakers last year approved a $2.4 billion financial bailout of rail, and another major piece of the recovery plan fell into place last month when the HART board of directors authorized the use of a public-private partnership to develop the last 4.1 miles of the rail line through downtown Honolulu.
The new recovery plan incorporates that public-private partnership, or “P3” proposal, and also provides updated financial data for the rail project that shows higher-than-expected hotel and excise tax collections are giving the project another financial boost.
The Honolulu City Council has already approved the recovery plan.
