In 2011, officials in Honolulu, Hawaii began construction on a controversial 20-mile rail project partly because of almost $1.8 billion in federal subsidies to President Barack Obama’s home state. The project’s total cost estimate stands at $5.3 billion, but if other similar projects are any indication, the final price tag will increase dramatically before anyone even gets to buy a ticket. What’s playing out in the Aloha State is happening all over the country.
“This rail project is our bridge to nowhere”, says University of Hawaii law professor Randall Roth. “We are convinced that it will be billions of dollars over budget and we think they will try to get the federal government to bail them out.”
Hawaii has some of the worst congestion and roads in the country and studies consistently rank its major city, Honolulu, among the worst cities for traffic. The INRIX Index has estimated that Honolulu drivers waste an average of 58 hours in traffic every year during peak travel times.
Yet there’s no reason to believe the Honolulu’s rail project will do anything to improve traffic congestion. In fact, it’s likely to divert resources from more-affordable solutions.
“The one thing about these projects [is that] they are very inviting politically,” says former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano.
Along with Cliff Slater of Honolulutraffic.com and University of Hawaii’s Roth, Cayetano has filed a federal lawsuit against the rail project that’s held up construction.
They claim the city misled the public about the total cost of the project and didn’t deliver fully on a required review of alternative solutions to a rail line.
Panos Prevedouros, one of the state’s leading transportation experts, says the rail plan that the feds approved will siphon off state funding for the area’s bus system.
The project’s own report, which Prevedouros says is filled with overly optimistic estimates of rail ridership, still shows that Honolulu’s congestion will be worse in the future with rail.
“The point of doing any cost effective type of analysis is out of the window,” says Panos, “the benefits are not there.”
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered an expedited hearing for the federal rail lawsuit on August 15th.
Go here for Reason Foundation analysis of mass transit.
Produced by Sharif Matar. Camera by Matar and Zach Weissmueller.
About 8 minutes.
Why is there still a huge problem over this? The rail is the only chance that Honolulu has to alleviate traffic. More vehicles for the road? I don't think so! There is one freaking road that hits east to west. What alternatives are there to rides? Everyone in Honolulu is so high browed thinking that they won't ride the rail, or even bus now. The reason they think that it won't be profitable, is there's no incentive for these people to get out of their cars. All I'm saying is build this now!
Senseless comment, going nowhere….JFM implies everyone else should ride the rail, except him.
Bet JFM bought one of the Kakaako condos from all the kickbacks HART & it's contractors are paying him.
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The folks who run the city of Honolulu have their head so far up their ass it is not even funny. The rail project won't do a single things to alleviate traffic but it will burden tax payers for years to come with little or no benefit. Follow the money, as they say. What a sad place.
The Reason Foundation is funded by the Koch Brothers (oil money), who have a vested interest in defeating public transportation, especially solutions that are not dependent on oil. Their involvement in Hawaii's rail issue was always present, but loudly and vociferously denied by their local minions. This is nothing new.
Ask who is funding the obstructionist lawsuits.
….and written by a guy named "Sharif?" …..gimme a break.
the Koch brothers,charles and david are not libertarians they are NWO oligarchs,conservatives.kochtopus empire.charles Koch also kick started the cato institute ,a ccompromised beltway libertarian think tank that are nothing but lobbyists and professional testifiers at congressional hearings.
and I think the people at Reason magazine are keeping their distance from the kochtopus. good articles on their website on the issues.
where are the idea's? is easy to point and call names.
I would like to see a light rail system work here. I've travelled extensively around the world and always wondered why we didn't offer similar modes of transport in the US. There are some good reasons for this but you'll have to research this yourselves.
Whether we have a light rail system or not, there will always be a problem with too many cars on to few roads in Honolulu and this problem will only worsen with time. This is a given. It's a far cheaper option to implement dedicated "express lanes" for public transport vehicles. Of course the down side is that it will force everyone else to cram in the remaining lanes. The plus side is that more people might take busses. Trains can offer similar benefits at a substantially higher cost.
Here is a link to all the major pro & con arguments. Worth reading, then decide for yourself.
https://www.lwv-hawaii.com/rail_pro-con-90.htm
Do you know that what they are "proposing" to build in hawaii is a HEAVY rail steel on steel system that goes to an empty field to a shopping mall? And they will have to use 8 foot wide columns so that the HEAVY rusty steel track rail can go right next to the condo & office buildings.
the traffic we see here is only when U.H. Manoa is in session, and the choo choo doesn't even go there.
opponents don't oppose a different mode of transportation, they oppose this corrupt boondoggle political screeching train to nowhere.
I support the idea of a light rail system but not the way it's being forced upon us. It's going from Kapolei to Ala Moana. We all know that when school is out, especially UH, traffic is not as congested. So why isn't the train going from Kapolei to UH? The planned route doesn't even include it in any of its future plans. Why? It's because they are taking a path of least resistance. A path that will do nothing for the future or the traffic congestion. You can see the writing on the wall. The city paid for properties well over the appraised cost. If that's how they plan to do business we are in a lot of trouble. There are too many rich people getting richer from our hard earned wages and it needs to stop. From the purchasing of train cars from a questionable (Foreign) contractor that's going bankrupt to the overpaying of properties along the rails path to the improper way that the iwi's are being handled. There's way too many serious issues that need to be handled before this projects bankrupts our city.
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