HALAWA — Robyn Blanpied enjoys standing at Rainbow Bay Park and imagining what the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail shoreline from Halawa to Waipahu will look like 25 years from now.

The images are so clear, in fact, that when asked for information about the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail, Blanpied doesn't even bother looking at the master plan an arm's length away. She knows it by heart.

Think of the famed San Antonio River Walk in Texas — only bigger — and you get an idea of her vision.

"This would be a green spot," Blanpied said, starting the imaginary tour at Rainbow Bay Park. "Before the mangrove got so tall, you could see 'Ewa from here. I was told that there used to be a Japanese fishing village in the water at 'Aiea Landing called Water Town."

Blanpied is a retired Air Force major from upstate New York and president of Friends of Pearl Harbor Historic Trail. Her dream of a historic trail took a significant step earlier this month toward becoming reality when Gov. Linda Lingle signed Senate Bill 1378. The bill officially recognizes the path from Halawa landing near the USS Arizona Visitor Center through Waipahu as the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail and authorizes planning, construction and completion of the leeward bike path.

Recognition brings state government into the mix and allows supporters to apply for federal funding.

The bill is seen by supporters as the major breakthrough to get the master plan, developed in 2001 by Belt Collins and adopted by the City Council in 2003, off the ground.

According to the bill, the goals would be to create an outdoor recreation trail and transportation network, to use the right-of-way for the old Oahu Railway & Land Co. as a springboard for historic preservation and education, to create economic opportunities for community businesses, and to enhance environmental preservation and education. In simpler terms, Blanpied envisions a restored Oahu Railway & Land Co. train to transport visitors and shoppers along the 18.6-mile shoreline trail. The train, traveling 15 mph, would stop at Pearl Kai Shopping Center, the old Tony Honda site in Waimalu, Blaisdell Park (which will remain a green area), and Lehua Avenue in Pearl City.

"Lehua Avenue is the original Pearl City," Blanpied said. "They used to run cattle down Lehua Avenue. Pearl City was O'ahu's first planned community. This isn't a touchy-feely, nice-to-have thing; this is about economic revitalization, about local jobs, about long-term sustainability for the Leeward Coast."

Friends of Pearl Harbor Historic Trail, a nonprofit, is pushing for a demonstration project with federal funds in the next five years to expand the OR&L track to Nanakuli. "We'd like to work with the Hawaiian Railway Society and Native Hawaiian groups to set up a platform of micro-economic opportunities," Blanpied said.

But Robert Yatchmenoff, commenting as an individual and not president of the Hawaiian Railway Society, said he has reservations about the master plan and a move to extend the trail past Waipahu through a right-of-way — located 300 feet diamondhead of Fort Weaver Road to Lualualei Access Road — to Nanakuli. The Hawaiian Railway Society, a nonprofit, had the right-of-way declared a historic area to restore and maintain the track and OR&L train.

Yatchmenoff said there are no tracks from Waipahu to Halawa to serve a train, and not enough space to build tracks because of the Chevron pipelines along the "energy corridor." The Environmental Protection Agency won't allow tracks to be built on pipelines, he said.

"The question is, where's the money coming from?" Yatchmenoff said. "It could cost $80 million. If the state and city can't pay for it, that means it will be funded privately. Now, how does that jeopardize our situation as a nonprofit?"

Blanpied, however, said the master plan addresses concerns expressed by Yatchmenoff and that the project is feasible.

"Things are going to change," she said. "This is not a Kaka'ako do-it-all-at-once project. A lot of money was spent to see if it was doable and to see (if) communities wanted it."

The revitalization would be done in increments over the next 15 years, said Blanpied

The leeward bike path fulfills a requirement mandated by the federal government when it transferred a right-of-way between Waipahu and Nanakuli to the state in 1980. The plan is to merge the historic trail and leeward bike path to create a multiuse 18.6-mile corridor.

Blanpied's tour of the future ends at Waipahu Depot Road, which she envisions will be cleared of mangrove that would be replaced with an art district.

"Twenty-five years ago the San Antonio walkway was a flood-drainage ditch in the worst crime area, where people dumped bodies and cars," Blanpied said. "Now it's probably the highest-growing-per-foot piece of retail real estate in the state of Texas for tourism. It's less than five miles long. We have 18 miles."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.

HISTORIC TRAIL WOULD CONNECT WITH BIKE PATH

The master plan calls for the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail from Halawa landing to Waipahu to someday merge with the Leeward bike path, which stretches from Nanakuli through the Oahu Railway & Land Co. right-of-way in Kapolei to Waipahu, creating a multiuse path.