Draft EIS underscores how rail can benefit Oahu
Those who already supported the proposed rail project ought to feel reassured by the contents of a draft environmental impact statement released by the city.
And for those hesitating over how to vote Tuesday on the City Charter amendment, officially authorizing the project as a municipal effort, the data in the report should nudge them closer to a "yes" vote.
The draft EIS, far from posing scary scenarios arising from the development of the project on the eve of the Honolulu referendum, highlights reasons why the city's largest public-works undertaking should move ahead:
The report also provides some detail about displacements due to condemnation of properties along the 20-mile route. The report notes that 34 or 35 parcels will need to be bought outright, depending on the alignment, with partial acquisition of 152 to 177 more parcels. Properties affected would include 30 residential lots, a church and 62 to 67 businesses.
Urban Honolulu endured even greater disruption and dislocation during the construction of the H-1 Freeway, and few would suggest that the temporary inconvenience outweighed the vast improvement in transportation services. The same quantum leap would be realized with the construction of the rail project.
Moreover, the injection of federal funds approaching or topping $1 billion certainly represents a boost that Honolulu needs as the state faces an uncertain economic future. The project will bring construction jobs, not only for the rail alignment itself but for the redevelopment surrounding the transit stops.
That, as the draft EIS also notes, will help the city contain urban sprawl, concentrating growth along a central corridor.
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye has watched the city grow for decades, much of that time from a vantage point in Washington, D.C., where the federal dollars are doled out.
He finds nothing in the draft EIS startling. In fact, he said, Honolulu has charged ahead through more momentous upheavals than what the rail project portends.
The H-1 freeway project displaced hundreds of homes and businesses, he said, and residents persevered and adjusted. And with refinements in the environmental planning process over the years, potential complications such as the unearthing of burials or archaeological artifacts can be anticipated. The long, nightmarish legal battles of the H-3 freeway — the nation's most expensive project of its kind — should not be revisited here.
About $15 million in federal funds already has been appropriated for the project, with $20 million more in the pipeline, Inouye said. He said those funds can't be transferred to a highway-based alternative such as the proposed EzWay plan, which would have to start the process from square one.
"I did some checking whether the funds appropriated can be used for this purpose, and everything I look at suggests to me it can't," he said.
That's a critical point for voters to consider. Honolulu should not reject the offer of federal funds now on the table for a rail transit system. That offer will likely never come again.
"We have to meet the needs of tomorrow," Inouye said, "and tomorrow calls for less congestion and more jobs.
"This project would provide 11,000 jobs," he added. "At a time like this, it's what the doctor ordered."
He's right. Voters should choose "yes" on the rail initiative. Honolulu's future depends on its citizens moving forward on a project that will create a more livable city for their children.
