A headline boasting $450 million in “savings” for the Honolulu rail project by ending it at Middle Street is misleading and grossly minimizes the exposure to the City and County of Honolulu. In its response to Council, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) never said there would be savings.

The federal government won’t take lightly a default on its full funding grant agreement. Hundreds of millions would have to be repaid. There could be impacts to TheBus funding and other federal programs.

The city also could be sued for millions of dollars in claims. Lawsuits from those who expected the project to end at Ala Moana would likely be filed.

Stopping rail at Middle Street was a bad and unpopular idea when it first came up and remains so today. HART would end up spending about as much to build an inferior system that fewer residents and visitors would benefit from.

“Pausing” is really just “delaying,” and we already know that more delays will only add more costs, not “savings.”

Ruth Lohr

Interim chief financial officer

Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation

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