DRIVE TIME

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

When the state Legislature begins its annual session tomorrow, transportation is expected to be one of the hot topics. Everybody wants somebody to do something — anything! — to give us all a little traffic relief.

Nobody expects miracles, though. Even in the best case scenarios the start of a new rail alternative to O'ahu's jammed highways is likely to be more than a decade away. These things take time, we're told, lots and lots of time.

Not to mention money.

At best, the state lawmakers this session probably will only be able to come up with a mechanism (how's that for a euphemism for taxes?) to raise the millions of dollars needed to get a rail project started.

The best bets at this point are that legislators will probably give counties the authority to raise their own taxes or create a special transportation authority, which could have power to raise its own money.

And then city officials can begin the long, long process of deciding what kind of transportation alternative Honolulu can afford and will end up with sometime about 2015.

All of which seems a little ironic in light of a new book that talks about Honolulu's rail transportation of the past, the O'ahu Railway & Land Company — a company that had its first line up and running within six months.

"Next Stop Honolulu," by Jim Chiddix and MacKinnon Simpson, details the long history of the railroad, but it's the first few years of the venture that offer surprising insights into today's debate over rail transit on O'ahu.

When Benjamin Franklin Dillingham first broke ground on a narrow-gauge railway from Honolulu to 'Ewa in March 1879, his world was full of doubters: Too far. Too expensive. No riders. (Sounds a little like today, doesn't it?)

Remarkably, though, the first leg of his rail line to Salt Lake was finished within six months, and more than 4,000 people showed up to take the first rides on Nov. 16, 1889. It took a full year before the rail line extended all the way to 'Ewa.

Within five years the line extended to Wai'anae. By 1898 it rounded Ka'ena Point, and in 1906 an 11-mile branch line stretched from Waipahu to Wahiawa.

That's one history lesson that's likely to be repeated in any new rail line here. Officials say it's best to build any rail system in segments. Getting one leg up and running is the best way to convince people that it's useful, thus guaranteeing that more legs will be built quickly, many transit experts say.

Of course, Dillingham was an entrepreneur in an era when businessmen were unfettered by bothersome things such as environmental assessments, Federal Transit Authority regulations, and excise tax increases. But there are still lessons to be learned today from his story.

The book goes on to document the rail line's full impact, including the building of Pearl City, and the rise and fall of sugar and pineapple industries in Hawai'i. Transportation was an important part of all parts of the state's life and history, just as it is today.

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