Can this alternative plan salvage the Honolulu Rail project?
"Salvage the Rail" group releases alternative Honolulu route map for a street-level plan that would save taxpayers from a GET surcharge extension.
The “Salvage the Rail” hui released a route map today showing a street-level alternative rail route through downtown Honolulu. The map also shows extension routes to Waikīkī and the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Mānoa.
“Some of the things HART [the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit] and others are asserting about street-level rail in Honolulu are wildly inaccurate,” said Scott Wilson, a member of the hui. Wilson was Chair of the AIA Transit Task Force from 2009–12 and Chair of the AIA Regional & Urban Design Committee from 2011–16.
“We want the public to know that running street-level rail from Middle Street through downtown can be done with the $6.8 billion in existing funding,” Wilson said. “There is no need for a General Excise Tax (GET) surcharge extension to complete rail.”
He continued, “Rail can be completed four years faster, with far fewer construction impacts, while lower operating and maintenance costs in the future. This is not wishful thinking. It is based on current data from the 38 other cities in the U.S. using light rail.”
The proposed route would pick up from elevated rail at Middle Street, run along King Street, loop around at Alapaʻi Street and return along Beretania Street. The Downtown Honolulu route could be completed using the already-collected GET surcharge revenue projected through 2027.
Optional extension routes to Waikīkī and UH Mānoa could be made at a cost of $139 million per mile. These routes would avoid the technical impossibility of extending the planned elevated route from Ala Moana Center created by the 90-foot clearance needed to overpass the old Nordstrom building.
Salvage the Rail lists several “myths” about Rail currently being circulated with its explanations of why these statements are false:
Myth 1: “Street-level rail would require the digging of a 4–8 foot trench 30 feet wide and have huge construction impacts downtown.”
Truth:
To lay a set of light rail tracks, construction would require digging down just 14 inches deep by 8 feet wide—the same depth as normal road construction.
This would not require the purchase of any additional land; rather, existing streets could be used.
Because these streets have already been excavated, the issue of new archeological studies is not applicable.
Street-level rail stations can occupy the same footprint as existing bus stops, requiring only a canopy for rain shelter and a small ticket machine on an existing sidewalk.
By contrast, building elevated rail through downtown Honolulu would create enormous construction impacts, since entire roadways will need to be cut open to pour underground spread foundations to support the weight of the elevated guideway.
Constructing the football field-sized stations planned for elevated rail would also create immense disruption to nearby structures, traffic and businesses downtown.
Myth 2: “Changing the plan now would result in a loss of federal funding, and slow or halt the rail project.”
Truth:
The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) has already listed street-level rail as an acceptable option to complete the route to downtown.
The “Recovery Plan” sent to HART officials by the FTA in June 2016 lists six options for completion in order to receive the $1.55 billion in federal funding; the FTA does not dictate what rail technology is used.
Option 2A in the Recovery Plan reads, “Build to Middle Street as planned and continue with at-grade rail system.”
In September 2016, the FTA clarified that the route could extend to downtown (Aloha Tower) at a minimum in order to qualify for federal funding.
With any major change in route, a supplement to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is needed. However, this does not take the same amount of time as a full EIS. For example, in March 2010 the city changed the route of the rail at the airport because it was too close to the runways. The EIS was modified in a matter of 3 months and the revised EIS was submitted in June.
Even taking the time to make technical adjustments and put new plans in place, the project could be completed four years faster because of the speed with which street-level rail tracks can be laid.
Myth 3: “Street-level rail will be slowed to the speed of automobile traffic.”
Truth:
Signal synchronization can be used so that the street level trains can maintain 30-mile-per-hour speed through downtown, nearly the same speed as elevated rail.
Managed lanes (for trains and busses only) keep trains running independent of automobile traffic speeds, and also greatly increase safety.
The Middle Street-to-Downtown segment would be slower than other Rail segments by an average of just 2–3 minutes (depending on length of final route).
Myth 4: “A street-level system through downtown will result in loss of ridership capacity.”
Truth:
Making a technical change to car design to have three instead of four cars per train, as would be required by the light rail design, can be made up for by increasing frequency at peak times to every 5 instead of 6 minutes.
A route through downtown Honolulu would deliver riders to their places of work. Instead of just a commuter rail, it would be a true urban transit system, attracting additional riders who want to travel through the city center’s intense employment areas.
Comparably few commuters from West Oʻahu will have an end destination at the few stops currently planned along Nimitz Highway or at Ala Moana Center anyway.
“The mayor’s financial plan is for taxpayers to write him a blank check. In return, absolutely no public financial reporting has been released by HART, and cost estimates keep going up,” write the authors of the alternate plan. “Using the proposed street level route, the city already has enough funds to complete the project using existing GET surcharge money through 2027, without imposing more taxes. This would save four years of construction time and $3-4 billion dollars. It’s time to salvage the rail.”
