Honolulu Rail Project Revving Up For More Construction
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation just announced that the State Historic Preservation Division approved the archaeological survey work that needed to be done to comply with a 2012 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling.
The high court had ruled that HART and the city had erred when it started to build railway columns before completing an analysis of all the sensitive cultural properties, such as Native Hawaiian burials, that might have been located along the proposed route.
This ruling, which was championed by those who oppose the project, halted construction and cost millions of dollars in delays.
“This approval is a major step forward,” HART Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas said in a statement.
“We are now working with the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting to submit the necessary permit applications to the City Council for their review and approval. Getting back to work after the year-long legal delay is essential to completing the project on time and on budget — that’s our goal.”
Although this is a big step forward for the project, there’s one last legal hurdle.
The city and HART are still embroiled in a federal lawsuit that is now in the hands of a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Photo: Columns that will support the guideway for Honolulu’s $5.26 billion rail project. (Nick Grube/Civil Beat)
—Nick Grube
