Crunch time for rail is fast approaching

The sound of Oahu gearing up for its largest public works project, for years a distant rumble, is growing louder in 2014.

This will be a make-or-break year for the $5.26 billion elevated rail project, for a few reasons.

For one, legal clouds remain, including a ruling by U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima, who last week heard arguments over procedures the city followed in planning the route through downtown Honolulu.

Additionally, a separate decision is still pending from a panel of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges, weighing whether the city carefully considered alternative options for managing Oahu’s traffic congestion.

Officials for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) are rightly worried about the impact of further legal delays, and that’s because of another sword of Damocles hanging over their heads: There could be serious sticker shock if some of this legal uncertainty isn’t cleared in the next few months.

Unless the courts flash the green light this spring, HART can’t move on key property acquisitions or construction in the city center. That could create new delays in the overall project completion, and more costs.

There is also the negotiation for settlement of claims by contractor Kiewit Pacific Co., for initial delays in the project.

Legal challenges already have pushed the heavy lifting into a year when there are lots of other building projects going on, instead of during 2012 when construction was a lot slower. And this makes it more difficult to get competitive bidding, Dan Grabauskas, HART’s executive director, told the Star-Advertiser editorial board last week.

"We’re going to really have to be on our toes to make sure we do the best job we can," said Grabaus-kas.

A less-than-optimal result will mean higher-than-estimated costs, dipping further into the project’s contingency fund than anyone would like.

Who else needs to be on their toes? Certainly the general public should be, with plans to build rail stations and design other key elements.

Here’s what’s on the horizon:

» HART had hoped this month to issue the contract, estimated at $150 million, for the nine West Oahu, Farrington Highway and Kamehameha stations.

» March 2014 was pegged as the time to move on the Pearl Highlands parking structure and ramps project, a design-build contract estimated at $175 million.

» The biggest contract is for the airport and city center guideway project. To include the utilities work in the city center, this section is budgeted at $745 million, with the expectation that the contract would be issued in July.

» The contract for four airport stations is set for issue in November, estimated to cost $60 million.

Assuming that all the hurdles are cleared, the public should be informed about the most critical developments in the offing.

For starters, there are the completed designs for the nine west stations. Those who attended the community meetings have had a look at them and provided feedback.

But the fact remains that most people either can’t or don’t choose to go to such meetings, and they should be given access as well.

HART officials said the artists’ renderings of the stations are posted online, but they’re difficult to find. HART needs to bring them out, front and center, on its home page (honolulutransit.org).

People also should be clued into the fact that contractors will be using a "balanced cantilever" method to erect the segments going over existing roadways without totally shutting down the freeway. Descriptions of that dramatic construction process and maps showing where the rail crosses over the H-1/H-2 interchange and the Kamehameha Highway H-1 overpass in Waiau should be made easy to find online, too.

Up until now, construction has been limited to zones that are fairly off the beaten track, as it were — the lengthening queue of pillars visible in East Kapolei and the clearing of what will be the maintenance and storage facility.

But, assuming judges allow the project to proceed, large-scale roadwork is soon to move into active traffic.

Oahu commuters who are footing the bill will want to keep an eye on the intersect with their travel routes, and on the project’s bottom line, as well.