• Advocates For Consumer Rights
• Hawaii’s 1000 Friends
• Oahu Coalition for Flexible, Affordable Transit
• Sierra Club-Oahu
• Honolulu AIA
• Three Federal Court Agencies
• Kamehameha Schools
• The Outdoor Circle
• League of Women Voters
• US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• HonoluluTraffic.com

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George Fox, President of Advocates For Consumer Rights

"Saddling Oahu’s taxpayers with the spiraling cost of building, operating, and maintaining an all-elevated rail system with its enormous stations, many elevators and escalators, 24-hour security, maintenance and all the rest is not a viable or sustainable option for Oahu. Our small county cannot afford such an extravagant system."

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Donna Wong, Executive Director of Hawaii’s 1000 Friends

"HTF is extremely upset that the Mayor appears to be going ahead with the rail project without first getting approved federal and state environmental impact statements; without a federal ‘Full Funding Grant Agreement;’ and without a Federal Transit Administration 'Letter of No Prejudice.' Circumventing this legally required EIS process and beginning construction with local funds only and without any assurance of federal funds will ultimately jeopardize any federal funds anticipated by the City."

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The Oahu Coalition for Flexible, Affordable Transit - members

Advocates using At-Grade Light Rail (NOT Elevated HEAVY RAIL)

viewed at http://belammc.com/pdfs/OCFTC_What_FINAL.pdf

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League of Women Voters-Pearl Johnson said

"While the LWV-Honolulu has opposed the entire rail plan from its inception, we understand that it could now happen. If it does, the League wants to ensure that the voters and residents of Honolulu County will get the most technologically advanced, affordable, flexible, convenient, and safest mass transit system within the limited means of Oahu's small tax base."

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Kamehameha Schools, in documents recently filed with the state, has expressed concerns about the size of the elevated train stations, which will be 50 feet wide by up to 300 feet long. The 21 planned stations also will be three stories high or higher.

"The planned stations are elevated concrete structures approximating the size of narrow football fields," said a Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman.

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• Federal agencies have asked the city to alter the train's route to

• UH-West Oahu campus declined to have the guideway run

• Honolulu AIA

"Economic efficiency is also essential. The Draft EIS notes that it will take 7 times the energy to construct an elevated guideway compared to an at-grade system."

"By degrading our island’s visual environment with an overhead system through our Downtown and historic core, we would significantly decrease Honolulu’s visual appeal as a place to live."

• Hawaii Outdoor Circle

"The Outdoor Circle knows of no other proposal that holds the potential to degrade the landscape of Oahu and change the character of our communities as greatly as the Honolulu transit project. We believe it will be the most visually disruptive project in the history of Hawaii."

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Sierra Club on Rail EIS

"The Sierra Club’s Oahu Group has raised issues related to farmland in the Ewa Plain as well as how the project will affect aesthetics and view planes.

In comments to the city this past February, the organization raised concerns that important agricultural lands just outside the corridor of the elevated train will be threatened in the face of transit oriented development.

"The Final EIS should include a detailed discussion and mitigation plan for negative environmental impacts to agricultural land affected by this project,” the organization wrote.

The Oahu chapter of the environmental watchdog group also raised concern about the effects an elevated train would have on view planes along the 20 mile route, from East Kapolei to Ala Moana.

“Where geography permits, the transit route should be placed at ground level to reduce cost of construction, energy consumption during construction, and impacts on view planes,” said the letter.

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Three federal agencies -- the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Marshal for the District of Hawaii and the U.S. General Services Administration, said in January, that the city to change the train's route to avoid passing near the Prince Kuhio Federal Building. Their concern was that the train system, which would pass at the same level as three judges' chambers, could be a platform for a terrorist bombing or attack by someone with a grudge against a particular judge.

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'''Review of EIS by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Recommendation to City'''

"Include additional information in the FEIS why light rail or bus rapid transit in an exclusive right-of-way were NOT considered to be reasonable alternatives and were therefore NOT reviewed in the DEIS."

"If these technologies may have resulted in fewer environmental impacts, further justification is warranted to SUBSTANTIATE WHY those less damaging alternatives were NOT carried through for consideration."

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Honolulu AIA

"The AIA promotes sustainable planning, design and operation of transit systems. Economic efficiency is also essential. The Draft EIS notes that it will take 7 times the energy to construct an elevated guideway compared to an at-grade system."

"Similarly, elevated systems require increased electrical consumption to power elevators, escalators and additional lighting. AIA Honolulu considers an elevated system to be the least sustainable and cost effective option available to our communities."

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Hawaii Outdoor Circle

"Our greatest concerns with the City’s current plan are the elevated rail along Nimitz Highway through the Downtown core and historic Chinatown that will isolate the city from Honolulu’s extraordinary waterfront.

"By degrading our island’s visual environment with an overhead system significantly decrease Honolulu’s visual appeal as a place to live. In addition, as a resort destination, an elevated rail system through the Downtown corridor and into Waikiki could negatively impact our visitor appeal for the next century."

Say goodbye to the beautiful Monkeypod, Kamani and other historic tree-lined streets in Honolulu -- to be replaced by huge, 50-foot-high concrete towers blocking the view of the ocean and mountains.

The 100 year old Outdoor Circle estimates that Honolulu and Oahu will lose up to 800 trees -- many of which cannot be replaced because concrete towers and platforms will block out the sun, turning formerly beautiful areas into freeway overpasses.

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State competes for rail funding May 25, 2009

The city needs to get about $1.4 billion of the $5.4 billion needed to build a 20-mile elevated commuter rail line from the federal government. However, the federal government may be stretched to pay for Honolulu's rail system given the needs of many aging public transport systems in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

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Rail revenue plummets May 24, 2009

Monthly tax collections needed to pay for Honolulu's planned $5.4 billion elevated commuter train fell 11 percent last month to $12 million compared with April 2008. The decline reflects a reduction in economic activity relating to a statewide slump.

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Transit tax collections still short of projections May 3, 2009

Tax collections needed to fund Honolulu's planned commuter rail system continued to lag expectations in March.

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So what are some of the rail alternatives?

RAIL ALTERNATIVES?

• 1. Send City buses across Pearl Harbor on barge-ferrys.

5 Minutes to cross, 20 minutes to Downtown. The FEDS will provide 100% of COST. This plan is already in advanced planning stage -- capable of moving thousands of commuters per hour on City buses.

• 2. TeleWork Centers

Why do all people in West Oahu have to go to town? 40% of all jobs can be teleworked or telecommuted. The FEDS have been doing this for years and are now greatly expanding their TeleWork Programs. The military is now setting up Virtual Commands -- jobs that can be Teleworked from thousands of miles away!

• 3. More efficient use of TheBus with computer GPS and computer/cell phone linked tracking. People will be able to know exactly when and where buses will arrive -- how full, etc.

• 4. Build Offices in Kapolei for all the people who need to commute Downtown Now- giving workers jobs!

• 5. Managed Highway Lanes -- has worked in other US Cities.

• 6. Smart Roads- More Fuel Efficient Cars -- Hybrid Cars

Smart Roads and Cars -- Vehicles can receive real-time mapping info -- like road closures -- from roadside transponders.

Philip Tarnoff, director of the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology at the University of Maryland, says these new technolgies will “manage vehicular traffic similar to the way telephone companies manage telephone traffic.”

To improve traffic flow, highway agencies are working on “smart roads” -- installing sensors, cameras and automatic toll readers. Meanwhile, carmakers and device manufacturers are creating “smart cars” by installing more powerful computers and sensors, giving drivers a better idea of their environment and car performance.

Thanks to the ubiquity of both Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless communications networks, smart roads may soon merge with smart cars to form one big, brainy network. In this intelligent universe, cars will talk to roads will talk to cars.

“In Detroit, if I can move 2 to 5 percent of the vehicles to underutilized routes, I can dramatically reduce congestion,” says Michigan Department of Transportation program manager Greg Krueger. “This network is technically feasible right now,”

John Bond, an Oahu resident, can be reached at mailto:GM@HawaiiN.Com

Transportation & Rail...