The city center guideway and stations (CCGS) from Middle st westward, was originally four miles and eight stations. When hart first tried to get bids in 2020, they had a target of $1.4 billion, and an “affordability limit” of $1.7 billion. The two bids came in at $2.73 billion and $2.775 billion (~$690 million per mile), so the solicitation was cancelled. Due to horrendous mismanagement and massive cost overruns, money was short despite extending the general excise tax surcharge twice, adding a portion of the statewide transient accommodations tax (TAT) as well as a portion of the Oahu city and county TAT. That’s why they were forced to shorten the route by 1.2 miles, and defer a $330 million parking garage at Pearl Ridge. Even with that “cost cutting,” rail will be 1.2 miles and two stations shorter, $4.8 billion over budget, and 11 years behind schedule as compared to the original agreement with the FTA. Traffic reduction was never a real goal of this system. According to table 3-12 in the final EIS, the rail will reduce daily car trips by ~48,000 per day in 2030, AFTER 10 years of full time operation from Kapolei to Ala Moana - they’re going to miss the opening date by 11 years. Unfortunately, traffic volume is expected to be ~2,800,000 car trips per day in 2030, yielding a traffic reduction of 1.7%, or roughly one out of every 59 cars taken off the road. It’s also worth noting that the final EIS used 116,000 daily riders in their estimates. The rail “authority” has estimated the shortened route at 84,000 daily riders, so that 1.7% traffic “improvement” will undoubtedly be less.
errata: the segment from middle street to the imaginary “civic center” is three miles, not five. It was originally four miles from middle street to Ala Moana center, but due to breathtakingly bad management and massive cost overruns, they were forced to shorten it by 1.2 miles and two stations.
I am not a fan of choppy AI fake narration, along with photos and videos of irrelevant non-Hawaii locations. The mispronunciations of Hawaiian words is really offensive.
The city center guideway and stations (CCGS) from Middle st westward, was originally four miles and eight stations. When hart first tried to get bids in 2020, they had a target of $1.4 billion, and an “affordability limit” of $1.7 billion. The two bids came in at $2.73 billion and $2.775 billion (~$690 million per mile), so the solicitation was cancelled. Due to horrendous mismanagement and massive cost overruns, money was short despite extending the general excise tax surcharge twice, adding a portion of the statewide transient accommodations tax (TAT) as well as a portion of the Oahu city and county TAT. That’s why they were forced to shorten the route by 1.2 miles, and defer a $330 million parking garage at Pearl Ridge. Even with that “cost cutting,” rail will be 1.2 miles and two stations shorter, $4.8 billion over budget, and 11 years behind schedule as compared to the original agreement with the FTA.
Traffic reduction was never a real goal of this system. According to table 3-12 in the final EIS, the rail will reduce daily car trips by ~48,000 per day in 2030, AFTER 10 years of full time operation from Kapolei to Ala Moana - they’re going to miss the opening date by 11 years. Unfortunately, traffic volume is expected to be ~2,800,000 car trips per day in 2030, yielding a traffic reduction of 1.7%, or roughly one out of every 59 cars taken off the road. It’s also worth noting that the final EIS used 116,000 daily riders in their estimates. The rail “authority” has estimated the shortened route at 84,000 daily riders, so that 1.7% traffic “improvement” will undoubtedly be less.
Many thanks
errata: the segment from middle street to the imaginary “civic center” is three miles, not five. It was originally four miles from middle street to Ala Moana center, but due to breathtakingly bad management and massive cost overruns, they were forced to shorten it by 1.2 miles and two stations.
Thank you
I am not a fan of choppy AI fake narration, along with photos and videos of irrelevant non-Hawaii locations. The mispronunciations of Hawaiian words is really offensive.