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Honolulu fixed rail

From dKosopedia

Categories: Transportation in Hawaii | Planning in Hawaii

Whether Honolulu should construct a fixed rail mass transit system has been debated for several decades. The funding of a fixed rail system has been the stumbling block on many past occasions because fixed rail by its inherent nature is a very expensive proposition.

Contents

Raising the funds

The 2005 Hawaii State Legislature passed a bill, which became law without Governor Lingle's signature, that gives the counties the power to raise the excise tax to 4.5 percent from 4 percent to finance transportation projects. For Honolulu that would mean up to $150 million annually to fund mass transit, which could include a rail system.

According to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article entitled Late deal avoids transit veto and dated July 12, 2005:

The bill also says that the state would collect the tax and charge a 10 percent administrative fee.

Governor Linda Lingle said the counties should collect the tax, and she threatened to veto the bill by today's deadline if the Legislature did not amend the bill to reflect that change in a special session also scheduled for today.

Under the agreement between state and city officials:

  • Lingle did not get her amendments today. Instead, Senate President Robert Bunda and House Speaker Calvin K. Y. Say agreed to introduce legislation during next year's regular session to have the counties, instead of the state, collect the tax. Bunda and Say also agreed in a letter to "publicly support and work with our respective members to seek their support and subsequent vote for prompt passage of the amendments."
  • Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann initially said that it would be a financial burden for the city to collect the tax. But he said with a pledge from Lingle that the state will share information and technology and possibly get state funding, he believes the city will be able to take over the function at a substantially lower cost than the $50 million to $60 million he initially estimated.
  • Senate President Robert Bunda (D, Kaena-Wahiawa-Pupukea) and Calvin K. Y. Say (D, St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise) advocated that the counties take over collection of the county excise tax surcharge.

    [1]

On August 10, 2005 by a vote of 7 to 2, the Honolulu City Council passed Bill 40 that imposes a county surcharge of half a percentage point on top of the 4 percent general excise tax charged by the state. Mayor Hannemann signed the bill thus the excise tax on Oahu would be 4.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2007 and be repealed Dec. 31, 2022.

Voting in favor of the bill were Todd Apo, Romy Cachola, Donovan Dela Cruz, Nestor Garcia, Ann Kobayashi, Gary Okino and Rod Tam. The two against the bill were Charles Djou and Barbara Marshall. [2]

Timeline

In a Honolulu Advertiser article dated January 3, 2009 and entitled Honolulu rail enters defining year that could reshape plan, route, the following timeline was printed:

RAIL TIMELINE

February 2009: Issue request for proposals on design/build contract for project's first phase

Summer 2009: Release of final environmental impact statement

Fall 2009: Federal approval of environmental impact statement

Fall 2009: Award design /build contract for first phase

December 2009: Start construction of elevated guideway

Spring 2011: Full funding grant approval from federal government

November 2013: Start service between West Loch and Waipahu

Late 2018: Start full service between East Kapolei and Ala Moana

Source: City & County of Honolulu


Historic commitment

On December 22, 2006, the Honolulu City Council voted 7 to 2 to select a fixed guideway alternative (whether bus or rail to be decided later) over other transit alternatives. Voting in favor of the fixed guideway were Todd Apo, Romy Cachola, Donovan Dela Cruz, Nestor Garcia, Ann Kobayashi, Gary Okino and Rod Tam. The two who voted against were Charles Djou and Barbara Marshall. The "council members left a decision on the final alignment up to the city administration, saying that the designated route could include both West O'ahu alignments as well as two possible routes through Salt Lake and Honolulu International Airport." [3] The council also passed "a provision that bars the city from spending more money on the rail than it can raise through an excise tax increase, federal grants, and state and private development funds." [4]

On January 6, 2007, Mayor Mufi Hanneman signed Bill 79, passed by the Council in December into law, committing Honolulu to a fixed guideway mass transit system. [5]

Related Links

External Links

Transit Tax

Transit 'scoping' meetings

Djou seeks federal probe of city's choice for transit study contract

Informational meetings on transit alternatives

Zoning and development along rail route

Cutting Kapolei, Waikiki and UH Manoa from route

Djou: delay excise tax surcharge

Final choice of transit alternatives by public and council

Lingle visit with Federal Transportation Administration officials

Route determination

Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization

Environmental scoping meetings

Elevated or 'at grade'

Panel of experts chooses steel rail technology

Noise factor of steel on steel

2008 Hawaii State Legislature

Congressional support

State tax windfall

West Oahu UH Campus transit stop

Public relations firms

Honolulu City Council tries to choose transit technology

Petition for November vote for/against fixed rail transit system

Other links

Retrieved from "http://localhost../../../h/o/n/Honolulu_fixed_rail.html"

This page was last modified 02:24, 4 January 2009 by dKosopedia user Jbet777. Based on work by dKosopedia user(s) Thorvelden, Allamakee Democrat and Anonymous troll. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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