Governor May Hinder Honolulu Light Rail

"Honolulu’s planned heavy rail transit system, which would run 20.2 miles between East Kapolei and Ala Mona Center by 2019, is expected to serve more than 100,000 daily riders along its 21-station elevated guideway. That is, if the city is able to secure a federal New Starts Full Funding Grant Agreement as planned in 2011, and as long as it is capable of maintaining adequate tax revenue to pay for the line.

That’s where Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle (R), now in the last year of her second term, and Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann (D), in the second year of his second term, strongly disagree."

Voters have already approved the plan, and the Federal Transit Administration has begun preliminary engineering. But gathering federal funding for the plan ultimately relies on the governor, and she is currently debating the economics of such an expensive project.