Crews complete portions of elevated guideway for Honolulu light-rail project

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) recently completed the first two miles of elevated guideway for the Honolulu transit-rail project, the agency announced yesterday.

The completed two miles of guideway are the equivalent of 84 spans. Crews also have built 140 columns that will support the guideway, HART officials said in a press release.

"Rail construction continues to go gangbusters on the Ewa Plain," said Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell. "We are marching forward to complete the project that was promised to the people of Oahu in order to provide an alternative to sitting the some of the worst traffic congestion in the nation."

The mayor also said the city would continue to report the project's milestones as well as "continue to openly discuss finances and how to fully fund the completion of the project."

Column work is moving gradually from the Ewa Plain into the neighborhoods of Waipahu and Pearl City, said HART Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Dan Grabauskas. Other work underway includes construction of the guideway over the H-1 Freeway near the H-1/H-2 merge, as well as the rail operations center in Waipahu.

The project entails construction of a 20-mile, 21 station light-rail system. City officials are seeking additional sources of revenue for the project, which has seen its costs escalate to about $1.4 billion. Reports in local news media this month have indicated the project's construction costs are outpacing the revenue coming in from taxes and federal sources.