Updated at 6:51 p.m., Wednesday, February 21, 2007
New transit plan has Salt Lake in, airport out
Advertiser Staff
The City Council this afternoon changed the path of Honolulu's proposed multibillion-dollar transit system to a route that would go through the Salt Lake area but not stop at the Honolulu International Airport.The vote isn't final. The council will next take up the decision at a special meeting at noon Tuesday at Honolulu Hale.
A route backed by Mayor Mufi Hannemann would have gone through the airport area and skipped Salt Lake.
But Councilman Romy Cachola, persisted in pushing for the transit project to pass through the Salt Lake district, which he represents.
Without Cachola's support, there were not enough votes to approve moving ahead with the first phase of the rail system at all.
Some members were willing to accept the Salt Lake change to win Cachola's support. With Cachola on board, the first phase got initial approval on a 5-to-4 vote.
City Council members late last year approved a plan to build the entire system from Kapolei town to UH-Manoa, with an extension to Waikiki, but Hannemann said that for now, the city only can expect enough money to build a 20-mile portion of the line.
The Hannemann's administration proposal bothered supporters on both sides of the route, who argued that an initial route needed to go to West Kapolei or Manoa. City officials said insisting on the longer routes initially would risk losing federal funding for the $3.54 billion first phase.
