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City leaders looking to keep the Honolulu rail project’s federal funding on track met Tuesday in Washington, D.C., with top Obama transportation officials and the members of Congress whose continued support they’ll need.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell, City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation CEO Dan Grabauskas and HART board Chairwoman Carrie Okinaga discussed the ongoing effort with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Hawaii’s congressional delegation and members and staff of the House and Senate appropriations committees.
Federal transit officials agreed in December to fund $1.55 billion of the $5.26 billion rail project, which is expected to have driverless trains running on an elevated track through stretches of town starting in 2017. A big reason for Tuesday’s visit, Caldwell said, was to show that with the November election over, Honolulu’s political will is now firmly committed to the 20-mile system that will run from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.
"We wanted to come up to D.C. after the election to show a strong leadership team … all working together to move the project forward," Caldwell said by phone shortly after the group’s 40-minute meeting with LaHood. November’s mayoral race was, in part, a referendum on the contentious rail transit project. Former Gov. Ben Cayetano, who came out of retirement to challenge Caldwell for the mayoral seat, had pledged to stop rail if elected.
The Beltway sessions Tuesday were part of Caldwell’s first trip out of state since taking office Jan. 2, according to a news release from the Mayor’s Office.
The rail project will receive nearly $14 million less in federal dollars this year due to budget sequestration cuts — a 5.6 percent cut — but the Federal Transit Administration has assured local rail officials that those dollars will be made up in subsequent years. President Barack Obama’s proposed budget also calls for Honolulu rail to get its full $250 million in federal funding for 2014.
Caldwell said the trip had been planned about two months ago and was not prompted by the sequestration cuts. The group from Honolulu encouraged federal officials to provide as much funding as they could as early as possible into the six-year spending agreement, Grabauskas said.
Federal officials appeared receptive to that, Martin said. LaHood and other transit officials "reaffirmed their full commitment to honor the full funding," he said Tuesday, and "that was very critical for me to hear."
"We were also here to thank the FTA for being a strong partner in this critical, critical project" and to keep close ties with key authority and congressional officials, Okinaga said.
The group said Tuesday’s discussions did not touch on rail opponents’ continued efforts to stop the project in federal court. On Friday those plaintiffs, who include Cayetano, requested an expedited hearing on their appeal against a decision to let the project continue.
Grabauskas dismissed Tuesday the possibility that the plaintiffs would succeed in stopping rail. "This is not a question of if it’s going to happen," he said. "The people have spoken. This project has moved from the question-mark column to the positive column."
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