One More Chance

Construction on Honolulu’s ill-conceived rail line–at least $5.7 billion, and more likely at least $7 billion, for a 20-mile elevated line–is supposed to start next month. Polls indicate that voters who once supported the project have turned against it. Fortunately, Hawai’ians have one more chance to stop this idiotic project before too much money is wasted.

Artist’s conception of Honolulu’s planned elevated rail line.

The incumbent pro-rail mayor, Peter Carlisle, who filled the seat in a special election when the previous pro-rail mayor made an ill-fated run for governor, is up for reelection this year. A surprise entry into the race is Ben Cayetano, Hawai’i’s governor from 1994 to 2002, who decided to run solely to stop the rail project.

“Adding $5 to $7 billion in debt for an elevated, heavy rail system that will not reduce traffic congestion and will suck the air out of the city’s ability to provide more important basic services does not make sense,” says Cayetano in a comment posted on an interview where Senator Daniel Inouye endorses Carlisle. The only other major candidate in the race is also pro-rail.

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Early polls indicate that Cayetano, who has won every election campaign he entered, has the support of 44 percent of voters, while the incumbent has only 35 percent. Of course, that may change when the rail interests ramp up their campaign contributions.

Voters seem to be little swayed by the outrageous cost or the fact that the rail line will do little to improve the city’s transportation. Instead, they seem to be more upset by the fact that the elevated line will obscure views and that it is routed over prime farmland that the city intends to convert (no doubt with TIF money) into transit-oriented developments.

The real question is how much damage can the existing mayor do before Cayetano, if he wins, can take office. The city has already agreed to pay Kiewit Construction more than $500 million to start construction. Abandoning the project would no doubt require paying substantial penalties, though certainly far less than the project’s ultimate multi-billion-dollar cost.

A local group has filed a lawsuit to stop the project, but has not asked for an injunction to prevent construction from commencing. Unless the courts act fast, it is likely that contractors will break ground in March. The city is counting on federal support to help pay for the project, but the Federal Transit Administration can’t awarded any federal money until and unless Congress passes a reauthorization bill with a New Starts program. But the city also knows that it is harder to stop a project once construction begins, so it is scheduled to start major construction next month even without a federal commitment.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

14 Responses to One More Chance

  1. LazyReader says:

    Graffiti is like grass; it grows quickly.

  2. the highwayman says:

    There are miles of elevated freeway in the Honolulu area, though you’re not complaining about that. Oh yeah, O’Toole you’re a fraud!

  3. Jardinero1 says:

    Hello Highwayman,

    I don’t believe that the focal point of the anti-planner’s critique is on the elevated aspect on the rail line. Rather, the high cost and the limited to non-existent prospect of the line improving surface mobility. The island of Oahu has a fantastic bus service that takes you just about everywhere at a very nominal cost to the rider. The rail will suck the life and usefulness out of that bus service.

  4. LazyReader says:

    The highwayman makes a point. i think we all regard the aesthetic appearance of something. Whenever you build infrastructure there’s a limit to what appeals to the eye. Trains, especially classic trains are romantic to most. Highways lack that appeal except famous ones like California’s Highway 1 or the scenic Blue Ridge parkway. Still if your worried do what France did, in Paris they built an entire ring road (beltway in America); The 2.2 billion Euro, A86 West Tunnel forms the final link of the 80km A86 ringroad around Greater Paris. Completed in January 2011, the tunnel allows the journey from Malmaison to Versailles to take only just 10 minutes, rather than 45 minutes. The A86 West consists of two toll tunnels; one is an innovative 10km double-deck. tunnel (duplex motorway) for light vehicles, the other, at 5.5km, is along more traditional lines with just a single deck designed for all vehicles such as trucks. I believe it’s entirely privately financed and built. They could have a setup like this on the Big Island and Oahu (the most populated island) and handle a vast majority of it’s congestion problems. They can be built to the configuration of the people that use them or use entrances and exits to connect to the major highways such as H-1. Being underground visual distaste is removed.

  5. FrancisKing says:

    Antiplanner wrote:

    “The real question is how much damage can the existing mayor do before Cayetano, if he wins, can take office.”

    The UK government is seeking a new law to enable them to build their high-speed railway line. Despite this, they have already compulsorily purchased houses along the route.

  6. bennett says:

    “$7 billion, for a 20-mile elevated line…”

    Is this low compared to similar passenger rail projects?

  7. LazyReader says:

    That’s 350 million dollars per mile. Japan spent nearly 500 million per mile building high speed rail out to Nagano; a town of only 400,000 people. And that was 1997 adjusted dollars in case you were wondering.

  8. Sustainer says:

    Ah yes good old Oahu, I used to live there. One major car crash anywhere along H1 in rush hour and the gridlock can reach all the way up to H2 or even up into the center of the island. It’s incredible to see how many cars have been packed onto that tiny island.

  9. C. P. Zilliacus says:

    LazyReader wrote:

    Highways lack that appeal except famous ones like California’s Highway 1 or the scenic Blue Ridge parkway. Still if your worried do what France did, in Paris they built an entire ring road (beltway in America); The 2.2 billion Euro, A86 West Tunnel forms the final link of the 80km A86 ringroad around Greater Paris. Completed in January 2011, the tunnel allows the journey from Malmaison to Versailles to take only just 10 minutes, rather than 45 minutes.

    Closer to home, Maryland Route 200 (ICC) toll road has managed to “lay lightly on the land” while providing pleasing aesthetics that are going to get better as the landscaping along the highway matures and grows.

    Like A86, Route 200 is rewarding its users with travel time savings.

    Unlike A86 and the federal parkways (and in my opinion, all of them are pleasing to drive on, including the Blue Ridge (I’ve driven all of it), the George Washington, Baltimore-Washington, Clara Barton, Suitland and Colonial Parkways), Route 200 is also engineered so that large trucks can safely use the highway.

    And there is significant new east-west express bus service on Route 200.

  10. C. P. Zilliacus says:

    bennett asked:

    Is this low compared to similar passenger rail projects?

    Compare and contrast with Route 200. About 18 miles of six-lane toll road with extensive environmental stewardship, landscaping and full access control for $2.5 billion.

  11. the highwayman says:

    Though tolls will only cover 20% of the expenses of the ICC.

  12. bennett says:

    C.P,

    Any idea how much more Route 200 would cost if built in HI?

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