With the budget crunch and economic challenges the state and city of Honolulu face the rail debate has diminished and the Mayor
has made it clear it full stream ahead so GIR asked GRIH Board member and Treasurer Cliff Slater to provide us an update.

First we are concerned that the City Council will agree to spend $1.1 billion to build the “Train to Nowhere” — the 6.5 mile segment from East Kapolei to the Pearl Highlands Shopping Center — without any stipulations about receiving federal funding. Many organizations have filed comments about the flawed Draft EIS. (see the comments at http://www.honolulutraffic.com/EISComments.htm ) and presently citizen's await the outcome of the FTA’s decision as to whether they will require the city to perform a Supplementary Draft EIS, which should be thought necessary given the deficiencies in the current Draft EIS.

The question here is whether the legal objections raised by a wide variety of organizations, including Hawaii’s environmentally concerned organizations, will be enough to counter the hard-money politics of the issue.

Honolulutraffic.com has raised serious legal questions regarding the city building the “Train to Nowhere” since it clearly violates the statutes regarding “illegal segmentation.” This requires that a federal project not be segmented unless the segment has “independent utility” and connect “logical termini.” In other words, the segment must be economically viable as a standalone project. This segment clearly is not; the first three stations, for example, are in open fields.

There has been a chorus of opposition from environmental groups (including ourselves) over elevated rail run along the waterfront and through town. They are complaining about the visual and noise blight of such a structure. Since the FTA must produce a Record of Decision at the conclusion of the EIS process that weighs the “environmentally preferable alternatives,” this may present the FTA with some difficulties if they were to ignore them. For example, the city has not properly studied street-level light rail or bus/rapid transit (BRT) on an exclusive busway, both of which are issues that the EPA has also raised with the city.

The “public involvement” process has also been clearly flawed with the city grossly misleading the voters as to future traffic congestion and also the “success” of mainland rail lines. The millions of dollars spent before the referendum last November completely tainted the results, which even then was still close. Had the city not misled the voters, Stop Rail Now would have prevailed at the election.

There are still many questions. What are the reasons for the delays in the city getting a high enough rating from the FTA? Could it be delayed because the funding is inadequate? The city is currently projecting getting $1.4 billion from the federal government’s transit fund but, given the competition for such funds among the many cities seeking it, it is unlikely they will receive that amount. In addition, the city’s forecast of revenue collections is far higher than what is currently likely. Our forecast is that they will be $760 million short from their forecast.

An adequate rating is a requirement before the city can apply to enter the stage called “preliminary engineering.” The Mayor said over two years ago that “the city will now move on to preliminary engineering” yet they have still not applied to do so. There is obviously a problem of some kind here. Stay tuned.

-GIR-

Cliff Slater is on the GRIH Board of Scholars and Board of Directors, and is one of the nation's leading transportation experts. He is a businessman and writer in Honolulu who focuses on transportation and transit. He is the author of General Motors and the Demise of Streetcars, which debunks the myth that a conspiracy destroyed America's streetcar systems.