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10/4/2022
The Federal Transit Administration last week approved the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s 2022 recovery plan related to construction of the agency's elevated passenger-rail system.
The FTA required the plan to document the transit agency’s progress on the construction of the line along the south shore of Oahu. HART submitted the plan in June, HART officials said in a press release.
Now that the plan has been approved, HART is eligible to receive $744 million in federal funding under a full funding grant agreement (FFGA), the first source of federal funding that will be awarded to the project since 2017. The transit agency will receive $125 million when the FFGA is amended and $250 million when it awards the City Center Guideway and Stations contract, which is projected for fiscal-year 2024, HART officials said.
The plan proposes a truncated rail line to terminate at Civic Center Station, stopping a mile short of Ala Moana Center and delaying the construction of a parking garage. The FTA is currently conducting an environmental re-evaluation of the truncated scope.
"Since HART submitted the recovery plan in June, we have been working hand-in-hand with the FTA, meeting weekly to keep the process moving toward recovery plan approval," said HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina. "We are so thankful for the support and communication from the FTA to accept the recovery plan as is and amend the full funding grant agreement, which is unprecedented, so that we may see the project through to completion."
The 20-mile passenger-rail project has been under construction since 2011 and has experienced repeated setbacks due to funding shortfalls and failed equipment tests. The FTA previously required HART to file an updated recovery plan in 2018, which it submitted in mid-2019. Under the FFGA, the transit agency was required to file the plan with the FTA or the federal government could demand its money back.
The project's total estimated cost is $8.3 billion, more than $134 million over HART’soriginal cost estimate. The FTA agreed to provide $1.55 billion for the rail system in 2012.