The Honolulu rail transit project reached a significant milestone in early February when it received federal approval to move into the next phase of construction.
The latest approval by the Federal Transit Administration clears the way for Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. to begin construction later this month on the foundation and columns of the elevated rail guideway along the first half of the route from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium.
It also allows for our company to begin construction on the vehicle maintenance and storage facility near Leeward Community College in Waipahu. Work on the facility will be a joint venture between Kiewit and local contractor Albert C. Kobayashi Inc.
Our company is proud to now be a part of this historic transit project, which will be the largest single construction project Hawaii has seen. And we are especially eager to move forward with the project at this time because of the much-needed boost it will bring to our state’s economy. The construction will provide much-needed jobs for local residents, as we have already hired multiple Hawaii-based subcontractors to work on the three contracts already awarded to us.
And as we continue to move forward with construction, there will be a need for Kiewit to further expand our workforce.
This is an exciting time for our state and for Kiewit. We have had the good fortune to participate in the construction of other rail transit systems across the United States — including the T-Rex system in Colorado and the Rail Runner Commuter Rail in New Mexico — and have seen firsthand the short-term and long-term benefits it has brought to those areas. While Kiewit’s role in the project may be for the short term in building the rail guideway, this rail transportation system as a whole will benefit our island for years to come.
Work on the rail system’s foundation and support columns is scheduled to begin next month. For the past year, our construction crews have been relocating utilities as well as conducting other critical preliminary construction activities along the Ewa portion of the rail route to clear the way for the rail system. Once the support columns are in place, we will then begin installing the concrete guideway that will be the elevated portion of the system.
To help keep in touch with the public during construction and to better manage our work in the field, we’ve already opened a field office in Waipahu, and have been communicating regularly with area residents and businesses along the rail route about the ongoing and upcoming work.
For more than 50 years, Kiewit has been a part of our island community, helping to build the H-3 freeway, the North-South Road interchange in West Oahu, and hundreds of other projects across our state. Our presence in Hawaii makes working on the Honolulu rail transit project even more important for us because it is more than just a job; it is about providing for the state and our community.
Working together with the City and County of Honolulu, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, contractor Albert C. Kobayashi and all of the subcontractors, we are ready to move forward with construction.
We look forward in working closely with the public as we bring this long-awaited project to fruition.
