The following commentary was originally published in Honolulu Civil Beat on Friday, April 7, 2023. _____________ In 2012, Honolulu officials thought they could protect the county’s credit rating by not counting bond issues for the Honolulu rail in the county’s “debt affordability limit.” But they were wrong. In early February,
Baruch Feigenbaum pulled no punches on Tuesday when discussing reforms that might solve some of Hawaii’s transportation challenges. Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, told host Keli’i Akina on the latest “Hawaii Together” program on ThinkTech Hawaii that, “sadly, just about everyone in transportation is
Photo by Charley Myers Boundless optimism may be a great trait in a friend, but it’s not what you need when you’re dealing with billion-dollar projects and long-term cost projections. From the beginning, the folks in charge of the Honolulu rail project have been relentlessly sunny in their projections. It
The transit agency is trying to squeeze $744 million more from the FTA so it can finish its over-budget, behind-schedule project The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii submitted a letter this week to the Federal Transit Administration urging it to view with “extreme skepticism” the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s 2022 Recovery Plan.
The state is at risk of a major natural catastrophe, he says, and its “suicidal” energy policy will just make everything worse Hawaii’s policy mandate to go to 100% renewable energy is nothing short of suicidal. That was the message of Panos Prevedouros, former chairman of the University of Hawaii civil
Photo by Charley Myers At this point, the one thing we can rely on concerning the Honolulu rail project is the long list of unanswered questions. Among them: >> How much will it really cost? >> How will we pay for its future operations and maintenance? >> Will it ever
So what’s going on with the Honolulu rail, the construction of which began in 2012? It is over budget and behind schedule, barely two-thirds completed, threatening major havoc as its construction nears the city center, unlikely to meet its latest cost projections and time tables, and its future funding sources
Another year, another interview about Honolulu’s seriously troubled rail system — the problem that won’t go away! But for a change, we seem to be at a moment when hitting the “pause” button on the most expensive megaproject per capita in the world makes a lot of sense. Hawaii’s most
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii in late April obtained a previously secret document from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation showing the city agency has analyzed 27 alternatives to its current plan for its troubled rail project. Now the document is being discussed community-wide, with veteran journalist Catherine Cruz of Hawaii
The future of Honolulu’s troubled rail project was the topic of a May 9, 2021, interview of Keli’i Akina by radio Johnny Miro of H. Hawaii Media. The interview, heard on Oahu stations 101.1 FM, 101.5 FM, 107.5 FM, 97.1 FM, 96.7 FM and 103.9 FM, followed the release of a secret Honolulu
The following commentary was originally published in Honolulu Civil Beat on Friday, April 7, 2023. _____________ In 2012, Honolulu officials thought they could protect the county’s credit rating by not counting bond issues for the Honolulu rail in the county’s “debt affordability limit.” But they were wrong. In early February,
Baruch Feigenbaum pulled no punches on Tuesday when discussing reforms that might solve some of Hawaii’s transportation challenges. Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, told host Keli’i Akina on the latest “Hawaii Together” program on ThinkTech Hawaii that, “sadly, just about everyone in transportation is
Photo by Charley Myers Boundless optimism may be a great trait in a friend, but it’s not what you need when you’re dealing with billion-dollar projects and long-term cost projections. From the beginning, the folks in charge of the Honolulu rail project have been relentlessly sunny in their projections. It
The transit agency is trying to squeeze $744 million more from the FTA so it can finish its over-budget, behind-schedule project The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii submitted a letter this week to the Federal Transit Administration urging it to view with “extreme skepticism” the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s 2022 Recovery Plan.
The state is at risk of a major natural catastrophe, he says, and its “suicidal” energy policy will just make everything worse Hawaii’s policy mandate to go to 100% renewable energy is nothing short of suicidal. That was the message of Panos Prevedouros, former chairman of the University of Hawaii civil
Photo by Charley Myers At this point, the one thing we can rely on concerning the Honolulu rail project is the long list of unanswered questions. Among them: >> How much will it really cost? >> How will we pay for its future operations and maintenance? >> Will it ever
So what’s going on with the Honolulu rail, the construction of which began in 2012? It is over budget and behind schedule, barely two-thirds completed, threatening major havoc as its construction nears the city center, unlikely to meet its latest cost projections and time tables, and its future funding sources
Another year, another interview about Honolulu’s seriously troubled rail system — the problem that won’t go away! But for a change, we seem to be at a moment when hitting the “pause” button on the most expensive megaproject per capita in the world makes a lot of sense. Hawaii’s most
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii in late April obtained a previously secret document from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation showing the city agency has analyzed 27 alternatives to its current plan for its troubled rail project. Now the document is being discussed community-wide, with veteran journalist Catherine Cruz of Hawaii
The future of Honolulu’s troubled rail project was the topic of a May 9, 2021, interview of Keli’i Akina by radio Johnny Miro of H. Hawaii Media. The interview, heard on Oahu stations 101.1 FM, 101.5 FM, 107.5 FM, 97.1 FM, 96.7 FM and 103.9 FM, followed the release of a secret Honolulu
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