My article "Honolulu Rail: From $4.6 B to $8.6 B In Eight Years. Now What?" with Cliff Slater and Randall Roth was published in New Geography, a national urban issues and news website.
With its official cost now having risen to $8.6 billion and a funding gap of $1.8 billion, both of which are certain to rise, Honolulu’s rail project will run out of money before construction reaches the downtown area, perhaps even before it reaches Middle Street.
The Federal Transit Administration says it will demand a return of all federal money if rail does not reach Ala Moana Center, which is possible only if the state Legislature or Honolulu City Council increase taxes dramatically: An average family of five would have to pay more than $1,000 per year just to complete rail, according to the Tax Foundation of Hawaii. Once completed, the annual cost of operating and maintaining a safe and reliable rail system would require comparable tax payments each year for the lifetime of the rail system.
State and city lawmakers are reluctant to raise taxes so dramatically, but abandoning the project at this late date would make those who had been supporting it look like idiots. They must be asking themselves, “How did we get ourselves into this mess?”
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Thanks for voicing the concerns that many of us feel about the Rail system. One thing that I have not yet seen discussed is about the proposed Amendment 4 that would have the City assume all of the obligations and liabilities for HART. Currently if HART were to close would the City be responsible for all of its obligations and liabilities? Given the current state of HART's finances it seems like a terrible idea for the City to accept these liabilities if the City is not already liable.
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