Mayoral candidates Ben Cayetano and Kirk Caldwell re-staked their positions on the city’s $5.26 billion rail project in their first head-to-head mayoral election debate Wednesday night on KITV.

Cayetano, who has vowed to kill the rail project if elected mayor, criticized Caldwell for going "with the hype" when he was former Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s managing director and misleading Oahu residents about how much traffic would actually be taken off the road with rail.

"Both the city and the federal government agreed that rail would not relieve traffic congestion and, in fact, congestion would be worse in the future with rail than it is today without rail," the former governor said. "And yet you kept quiet and went along with the hype. And when you became mayor, you didn’t tell the public the truth."

Caldwell said the final environmental impact statement for the project makes it clear that "within the urban core, traffic congestion is going to be reduced by about 30 percent. There’s going to be 40,000 less cars than there otherwise would be (without rail)."

Caldwell criticized Cayetano for not coming up with a better plan to deal with Oahu’s traffic woes, calling the $1.5 billion Flexible Affordable Smart Transportation plan that was released last week "half-baked."

He pressed Cayetano for specifics on the cost of several aspects of the plan. Cayetano said a 2.2-mile, reversible "flyover" from the H-1 viaduct to Hilo Hattie’s off Nimitz Highway would cost $600 million while each of four underpasses would cost between $20 million and $70 million each.

Caldwell said he wanted to see more specifics on other aspects such as new, dedicated lanes for buses, saying "there’s only two weeks before people start to vote."

Cayetano, however, pressed Caldwell for specifics on how much the downtown portion of the rail project would cost, a figure Caldwell acknowledged is not yet available.

Both Cayetano and Caldwell exchanged barbs on how much more their respective mass transit plans would cost in the long run.

Transit wasn’t the only topic discussed.

On the Ho‘opili and Koa Ridge master-planned projects, both of which will come before the city for approvals, Cayetano said he is opposed to both because they would cause urban sprawl.

"I think preserving ag land is very, very important," he said.

Caldwell said he supports both projects because they would provide needed housing for future generations, saying, "We have the highest housing costs of almost anywhere in this country."

Both projects are within existing urban growth boundaries, he said, adding that he supports retaining agricultural use elsewhere on the island.

Caldwell said Cayetano raided money from the state’s Employee Retirement System to help balance the budget. Cayetano called it a tough but necessary decision given the state’s economic straits when he was governor.

Cayetano said Caldwell was part of an administration that increased property taxes. Caldwell said that as part of the Hannemann administration, he helped negotiate a plan that created a two-tier system raising taxes only on those who own second properties and who could afford it.

Both candidates said that on the issue of commercial activity on city parks, they would look at the issue on a park-by-park basis.

A recent law enacted by the city inadvertently made all commercial activity illegal and city officials are enacting rules.

The debate was sponsored by KITV and Civil Beat, an online news site.

It was the first face-to-face encounter on live TV between the two finalists for Honolulu mayor.

The only other scheduled live TV encounter takes place on "Insights on PBS Hawaii" at 8 tonight on KHET.