Transit plan adds Kaka'ako route

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

The city's $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit proposal has been expanded to include a route through the Kaka'ako waterfront area, targeted for heavy development in coming years.

The new route is one of several changes in a revised environmental impact statement for the project released last week. It would run from Iwilei to downtown, past Aloha Tower Marketplace and through the makai portion of Kaka'ako before heading toward Waikiki.

The Bus Rapid Transit system is the city's major proposal for alleviating traffic congestion in urban Honolulu in coming decades. The plan envisions rubber-wheeled, environmentally friendly buses traveling every two or four minutes on exclusive and mixed-traffic routes extending from Kapolei to Waikiki and the University of Hawai'i in Manoa.

Major transit centers would be at Kapolei, Waipahu, Aloha Stadium, Middle Street, Iwilei and Alapa'i Street.

Much of the planning is finished, and federal money has been secured for the project, but the new report released last week shows several changes to earlier proposals. Among them:

• Build a new Luapele Drive on-ramp to H-1 Freeway near the Aloha Stadium parking lot for the buses, which could be powered either by hybrid electric-gas engines or an embedded plate system for traction.
• Move a section of the University of Hawai'i route from Ward Avenue to Pensacola Street.
• Reroute some lines from Richards Street to Bishop and Alakea streets downtown.

The report acknowledges that developing the bus system with its specially allocated lanes is likely to make traffic worse for drivers, but "the delay to motorists is expected to accelerate a switch in travel behavior from automobiles to transit."

In his budget proposal earlier this month, Mayor Jeremy Harris proposed spending $65 million next year to launch the first leg of the system, from Iwilei to Waikiki. The objective is to have the first section operational in three years, he said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.