Honolulu Has Nation's “Premier” Rail Project

Courtesy of Mazie Hirono

Honolulu’s rail plan is "the premier transit project in the entire country,” the congressman who chairs the House transportation committee says.

As chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Jim Oberstar is in a position to know. Via video conference from Washington, D.C., he and Congresswoman Mazie Hirono addressed dozens who gathered for the Summit on the State of Physical Infrastructure in Hawaii, presented Tuesday by the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs (HIPA).

Oberstar's public comments echoed what city officials have said they've been hearing from Washington.

“This is vastly safer transit project than anywhere else in America,” Oberstar said. “It’s exceedingly well designed, and it has received the highest rating from the Federal Transit Administration.”

When it comes to local discussion of infrastructure, the $5.5 billion rail proposal is inescapable. The project’s critics focus on the cost as one of the many reasons building rail is an absurd course of action during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

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