New rail route is just ‘first phase,’ Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi says

The latest idea to end rail construction at Halekauwila and South streets would cost $9.8 billion and, if approved, assure three years of federal funding that would save about $100 million in financing costs, Mayor Rick Blangiardi told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program Monday.

The proposed timetable would see rail construction complete at Middle Street in February 2024 and finished at the so-called Civic Center station in the area of state Circuit Court by May 2029, Blangiardi said.

“We can now say it’s seven years away,” he said.

A truncated 18.75-mile, 19-station system would cost $9.1 billion to build, plus an additional $650 million in financing.

Blangiardi called it a “fully functioning rail system.”

The Federal Transit Administration has not provided funds to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation since 2017, Blangiardi said.

A new “recovery plan” to finish — and finance — the project is due to the FTA by June 30. If approved by the HART board, the City Council and the FTA, $250 million in federal funds would be delivered in each of two years, followed by the remaining $244 million in federal funds, reducing the city’s financing costs, Blan­giardi said.

The updated route from East Kapolei to Halekauwila and South streets would represent only the “first phase” of construction, Blangiardi said.

After the Civic Center station is complete, Blan­giardi said, construction could push on to the previous destination at Ala Moana Center “or beyond.”

And there could even be a new Kapolei station at Ka Makana Ali‘i shopping center because the current starting point is “sort of in the middle of nowhere,” Blangiardi said.

The previous plan was to build a 20.2-mile, 21-station route at a cost of $11.1 billion with a $1.3 billion deficit but no obvious source of money to plug the budget gap.

The new plan is projected to be paid for by rail’s share of the state general excise tax and its share of a new city transient accommodations tax on hotel rooms that was approved in December.

The last station was decided on after looking at rail’s projected $9.8 billion budget and asking, “What can we build with that?” Blangiardi said.

“It’s not an insignificant thing to change the terminus,” he said.

He called the proposed Civic Center station “an ideal location for us,” with “ample room down there to create something really good for express buses to all the various locations on the East side.”

“We’re excited about this proposal because we believe strongly we can deliver on it and we’re out from under the billions-of-dollars-over-budget attitude and undefined timetables,” Blangiardi said. “From a strategy standpoint it’s what makes sense.”