![]() Last fall, however, the HART board’s Finance Committee estimated it could cost more than double that $400 million amount. The goal was to get that work done ahead of the station and guideway construction and to help keep construction costs in check. Two-thirds of that work lies on Dillingham, rail officials say. to relocate what it estimates to be nearly 40 miles of utility line running along the last four miles of the route. In 2018, HART awarded a contract of up to $400 million to Nan Inc. Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2020 A Sudden Stop On DillinghamĬonstruction at the city center end of the rail line also foundered last year.įor years, transit officials have flagged Dillingham Boulevard and its nearly two-mile long gantlet of utility lines as a major obstacle to building rail. Utility relocation work along Dillingham stalled last year, triggering an array of related problems and delays. ![]() It evaporated as tourism shut down and the Hawaii economy sagged. ![]() The rail authority originally expected to receive more than $355 million in 2020 in hotel room and excise taxes to help finance construction, but $62 million of that money never arrived. Meanwhile, the delay in federal funding put extra financial strain on HART as tax collections for rail declined in the economic downturn triggered by the pandemic. The FTA hasn’t released any new funding to HART since 2014 because it wants the city to demonstrate it has a workable plan and the necessary funding to complete the rail project, something that hasn’t happened yet. HART had hoped the FTA would release additional federal funding for the rail project by last spring, but with the collapse of the P3 initiative, those federal funds may be delayed indefinitely. They both submitted construction proposals for more than $2.7 billion - an unaffordable price - and the city withdrew from the process. HART had estimated the construction component of the P3 agreement would cost $1.4 billion, but the two potential P3 partners had other ideas. The FTA, which has committed to provide $1.55 billion to help finance the rail line, held back about $744 million while it watched to see how the P3 bidding played out. The P3 partner would have also maintained and operated the rail line for 30 years.īut P3 agreements are unusual for government entities in Hawaii, and this one was understood to be a gamble. The plan was to award a construction contract to build the last 4.1 miles of the rail line from Middle Street to Ala Moana Center along with eight urban train stations and a 1,600-stall parking garage and transit center at Pearl Highlands. HART spent much of 2020 anxiously awaiting the results of a complex solicitation for a public-private partnership, or P3 agreement, but that effort failed in the end. With a new mayor and a new City Council taking office, it is too soon to say what the city will do, but Dela Cruz suggested that instead of asking the state for more money, the city should leverage its zoning authority on lands it owns along the rail line to raise cash to complete construction. It would be “too difficult” for the state to step in again with more cash to support rail, said Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz. The Legislature approved rail bailouts worth $1.5 billion in 2015 and $2.4 billion in 2017, but now the state is coping with its own budget crisis triggered by the pandemic. A key lawmaker says it will be “too difficult” for the state to step in for a third time with a financial bailout for the city rail project. That marks the third time since 2012 the city has announced huge rail cost overruns, and this budget shortfall may be more difficult to resolve than the previous two. The HART board of directors adopted a new budget last month that essentially confirmed Caldwell’s cost estimate. The entire rail line was supposed to be finished and open for public use in 2020.īut by this past fall Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell was projecting the rail line will not be done until 2033, and will cost an astonishing $11 billion. To gauge how serious the setbacks were last year, it helps to recall the city signed a deal with the Federal Transit Administration in 2012 pledging to build the 20-mile system with 21 stations for $5.2 billion. The rail project has had troubles from the start, but 2020 was such a bad year that it is unclear exactly how the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation will pick up the pieces. And despite some rosy predictions, no part of the Honolulu rail system ever opened to the public in 2020 as promised.
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