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Honolulu rail project receives additional tax revenue
As I’ve said before, I’m all for public rail transit projects, but the cost just seems unbelievable. I just can’t figure out how it cost so much per mile. It’s just engineering, ROW, track, signals, stations, etc. None of these things are new ideas so where does the extreme cost come from.
As I’ve said before, I’m all for public rail transit projects, but the cost just seems unbelievable. I just can’t figure out how it cost so much per mile. It’s just engineering, ROW, track, signals, stations, etc. None of these things are new ideas so where does the extreme cost come from.
All projects whether transit or highway are extremely expensive. The cost of the mass transit is not outrageous compared to $1 billion 9 mile I-595 project or the $1 billion Port of Miami project. The costs of modern highway projects is so high that the bill reauthorizing the Highway Trust Fund has provision removing the prohibition against charging tolls on new and existing interstates.
The cost of urban mass transit is the cost of doing a major infrastructure project in a built up urban area from scratch. You impact a lot of people. All of which takes time. Time is money.
Mr Thompson Every job requires new engineering and design for the site. Buy ROW, design for stations. Walmart does not have a box of stations for sale. Each new project requires new engineering for the signal systems, etc. Yes, the engineers have all the information in their heads and in books. But one must write the specs for what will be built. Each site is different. Ask any engineer or architect.
Historically, it’s extremely expensive to building anything in Hawaii…
When “H3” was built (linking Pearl Harbor with Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay), the tab was nearly 1.3 billion dollars (about $80 million/mile for a 15.3 mile “interstate”).
The City and County of Honolulu is retrofitting two (2) existing waste water treatment plants for $1.2 billion, in addition to being ordered by the EPA to upgrade a portion of the city’s waste water collection system budgeted at $3.5 billion.
And it’s not limited to the public sector, Disney spent over $800 million dollars creating the “Aulani” resort west of Honolulu, and a private developer is spending $320 million for a residential development also on the west side of Oahu.
The average cost to build a commercial/multi-family structure in Honolulu starts at $125/SF, for a “packaged” home, expect to shell out $200/SF and “custom-built” houses will start at $350 to over $1000/SF.
With gasoline averaging $4.50/gallon, milk at $6.00/gallon and electricity running at 33 cents per kilowatt hour, most island residents just accept the high costs as “the price of living in paradise.”
Consideration should be given to having the rail system extend as far as Hanauma Bay via the University of Hawaii on the western end. This would then become a natural and logical East-to-West rail system, not only serving 2 college campuses but also 2 population centers.
Billion(s) for 20 miles is outrageous, but at least there’s a station stop at the airport.