Honolulu may soon get long-awaited commuter rail

In my experience, all large public works projects are, and probably should be, controversial.  The Times did a good job with this piece as far as it went, but of course there is more to the story.  The article describes the project as rising from the farmlands, notes concerns about an elevated transit system, and quotes sources stating that it will blight pristine coastlines.  (I'm sure the latter bit of hyperbole prompted some chuckles in Honolulu.)  

In fact the western extension of the rail line will cross lands that are currently designated as ag lands in the state's land use zoning system - including some lands that are currently in ag use.  The conversion of ag lands to urban development has been controversial.  But this area is part of the ʻEwa Plain, which has been mapped in the County's planning process as Honoluluʻs "Second City" -- the principal growth receiving area -- for over thirty years.  (Information about the recently-updated ʻEwa Development Plan can be found here:  http://honoluludpp.org/planning/DevSust_Ewa.asp.)  The station areas are contiguous with existing development and adjacent to the new West Oahu campus of the University of Hawaii, which is under construction.  (Most of the affected landscape is definitely not, as the Times article states, an "undeveloped area.")  One of the objectives of the rail project has been to link the two major nodes of urban Honolulu -- the existing primary urban center and the rapidly developing ʻEwa area, including its emerging downtown center at Kapolei.  Not everyone likes the Countyʻs plans, to be sure, but the rail project is the outcome of several decades of careful and very public planning.  The danger has always been that ʻEwa and Kapolei would develop in a suburban sprawl pattern rather than the urban pattern called for in the Countyʻs plans.  The rail project and the ongoing planning for dense, mixed-use, walkable urbanism around the stations represent a considered effort by the County to promote a more urban development pattern for its Second City.

As for the elevated transit line, that has also been controversial.  Many of the urban planners involved in this effort might have preferred a surface system such as light rail.  But there were pros and cons, and the County reviewed a full range of alternatives in its EIS/AA process, making the choice of technology carefully and openly.  In the final analysis, Honoluluʻs primary urban center is quite dense -- one of the densest places in North America -- and an elevated transit line is a reasonable fit with this specific local urban environment.  It will offer travel time benefits that a surface system wouldnʻt, albeit at the expense of the better integration with the street-level environment that you would get with LRT.  (An underground system would not be feasible.) County planners and elected leaders saw Vancouverʻs SkyTrain as a model for Honolulu, and there are obvious similarities in the two places that should not be discounted (including the fact that all rail projects are controversial).

Honolulu has been trying to move forward with a high capacity transit system for almost four decades now.  It is one of the nationʻs best transit markets and the rail line is badly needed.  It will attract robust ridership and will help the County reach critically-important, long-standing objectives.  Some of my urban design friends will cringe to read this, but sometimes the perfect project can be the enemy of the completed project.  My opinion is: Honolulu should build this thing now, while they can.