City shuts down rail construction

The city on Monday agreed to temporarily halt construction on the $5.26 billion rail project apart from some short-term tasks required for an orderly shutdown, according to statements from the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp.

NHLC lawyer David Kimo Frankel met with city and rail officials Monday afternoon and issued a statement that "it is our understanding that the city has halted construction of the rail project."

Later in the afternoon the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation offered a brief statement confirming the shutdown.

"HART is working with its contractors to determine what work will be necessary for public health and safety, to secure and maintain the job sites, or to otherwise responsibly wind up ongoing activities," the statement said.

"All parties involved have agreed to work together to address any issues that may arise in the coming weeks," it said.

The rail project is the largest public works project in Hawaii history, and construction crews have been working this summer on the first segments of the rail line as well as a rail maintenance and storage facility next to Leeward Community College.

Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. sued the state and the city over the rail project on behalf of Paulette Kaanohi­oka­lani Kalei­kini, alleging the city improperly began construction before completing a required archaeological inventory in the path the rail line would follow.

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled Friday that the State Historic Preservation Division violated its own rules by allowing the project to proceed before the survey was complete.

In a unanimous ruling, the court concluded SHPD rules do not allow the agency to agree to the rail project until the city finishes the survey to determine whether there are Native Hawaiian burials or other archaeological resources in the path of the rail line.

The city has been surveying the rail route from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center in sections, and still has not completed the portion of the route in urban Hono­lulu where experts agree that burials are most likely to be found.

The Supreme Court ruling also found that the special management area permit the city issued for the rail project is invalid. The decision sends the case back to state Circuit Court for further proceedings.

"HART has not yet determined the final details with respect to the recent state Supreme Court decision," the city said Monday. "In the meantime, in order to avoid additional litigation costs and until we are able to obtain guidance from the Circuit Court, no new construction, including ground-altering activity, will be done until the archaeological survey work is completed."

It was not immediately clear how many construction workers will be sidelined because of the shutdown. A spokes­woman for rail contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. declined comment Monday on the planned shutdown, and referred media inquiries to HART.

Kiewit released a job count in April that showed rail had created 243 direct construction jobs with the company, but construction had barely begun at the time, and Kiewit likely has added workers since then.

Kiewit crews began testing soil and relocating utility lines in the path of the rail project last year, and heavy construction of the rail project itself began in April. Recent activities included drilling shafts and pouring concrete foundations and support pillars for the rail line in Kapolei.

Frankel said the city plans to complete "a few short-term tasks for public safety" such as backfilling open trenches, and plans to continue longer-term maintenance activities such as erosion control measures.

The city also plans to complete the required archaeological inventory survey for the 20-mile rail line and undertake other "miscellaneous activities," Frankel said in his statement.

He said the city is drafting a list to specifically describe those activities, and will discuss the list with Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. lawyers to determine whether those activities should be allowed to proceed.

Daniel Grabauskas, executive director of HART, has said any delay in the project will cost money, and the city previously estimated that each month of delay in the rail project adds $10 million to the overall cost of building the line.

Delays in the rail project have already cost taxpayers millions of dollars. HART agreed earlier this year to pay Kiewit $15 million to resolve delay claims related to construction of the initial first segment of guideway from East Kapolei to Pearl Highlands, and additional delay claims by the contractor have still not been resolved.

Longtime rail opponent Cliff Slater said it will take the city months to complete the archaeological survey, and predicted that by the time that survey work is done, the city will have to cope with another unfavorable ruling in a separate lawsuit in federal court.

Slater said that is a waste of taxpayer money, "and heads should roll over this."

Rail contracts were awarded before the city secured the bulk of the federal funding for the project, and the city knew there would be legal challenges to the project, he said.

"They knew what was coming but they went ahead anyway, and it seems to me this kind of borders on malfeasance," Slater said.

Slater was not involved in the Kaleikini lawsuit filed in state court, but he is part of a group of rail opponents who filed a separate lawsuit in federal court to try to stop the rail project. Arguments in that second lawsuit were heard last week in federal court, and a ruling in that case is expected sometime in the next few months.

The archaeological survey is finished for the first two sections of guideway that extend from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium.

Survey work on the remaining two segments is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

For the rail project segment from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street, five survey trenches have been excavated, and 35 more still need to be dug. For the final segment from Middle Street to Ala Moana Center, 59 survey trenches have been completed, and 173 trenches still need to be excavated.

Grabauskas has said the city might add crews or take other steps to accelerate that work in the wake of Friday’s ruling.