Rail opponents pursue accelerated court hearing

Plaintiffs in the federal case seeking to stop Hono­lulu’s planned elevated rail system requested Friday an expedited hearing on their appeal — a move they hope will lead to a court decision on the project before building can resume this fall.

The anti-rail group includes former Gov. Ben Caye­tano, outspoken rail opponent Cliff Slater and University of Hawaii law professor Randall Roth. In December, visiting federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima allowed the city to proceed with construction on the $5.26 billion rail project. However, Tashima also required the city to further study rail’s impact on Mother Waldron Park in Kakaako; the feasibility of an alternative downtown route under Beretania Street; and its effects on cultural sites along the 20-mile route.

Opponents filed an appeal in February to overturn Tashima’s ruling allowing the project to go forward. With Friday’s filed request for an expedited hearing, they hope to get a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by the end of 2013 — and perhaps before construction starts again in August or September.

"We think it would be an unnecessary waste of additional money to resume construction prior to the court’s decision," Roth said Friday. "Nobody can predict with certainty what the court’s going to do, but we believe we’re going to win the appeal."

In a statement Friday, Roth and his fellow plaintiffs pointed to changes between the city’s 2003 and 2006 environmental impact statements. The former EIS found that bus rapid transit was preferable to rail, they said, while the latter didn’t consider bus as a reasonable alternative to rail.

Officials with the Hono­­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, the semiautonomous public agency overseeing the project, said Friday they had just received the motion and were reviewing it. City officials say the case has cost the city more than $2.1 million in outside attorney fees.

While Tashima’s ruling in December allowed building to go forward, it halted the fourth and final construction phase until the city addressed outstanding issues at cultural sites, Mother Waldron Park and Beretania Street.

However, a separate ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court in August forced the city to halt all rail construction until it completed archaeological surveys along the entire 20-mile route. The fieldwork wrapped up earlier this year, and drafts of those surveys’ final reports are under review — leading HART to pro­ject construction could resume this fall.

HART officials estimated the construction delays would cost $7 million to $10 million per month. However, the delay costs for September through December came in 27 percent lower than original estimates, HART reported in February.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Ken Kobayashi contributed to this report.