The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation awarded a $1.66 billion construction contract last week for the third leg of the Skyline guideway to Tutor Perini, a California-based company that has built rail systems across the country.
The 3-mile segment will take rail cars through six stations from Middle Street to the last stop in Kaka’ako, a few blocks from Honolulu Hale. It's the third and final segment of the current construction project from Kapolei to Honolulu.
HART CEO Lori Kahikina is tasked with building the nearly $10 billion system. She said awarding the contract allows the release of another $250 million in federal funding.
"But just to remind your listeners, it's not like a big check that they write to us. It's the opportunity to receive the funds. So now we have to put in an application for this extra $250 million, and then we submit invoices to them that they need to review, approve and reimburse us. So all our bills are paid upfront, and they reimburse us," Kahikina said.
She said Tutor Perini expects to have shovels in the ground in 2025 — sooner than she anticipated because the company's contract encompasses both the design and the construction.
"I do not have a schedule from them yet. It is too preliminary, but they decide on how they're going to work, which direction. It would probably make more sense to come from Halekauwila and work backward because Nan is still going to be doing utility relocation, but it's really up to them," Kahikina said. "We don't dictate how they're gonna do it."
Construction of the third segment is expected to be finished in 2030.
Kahikina said that as the roads get torn up to deal with utility lines, she worries about construction on the leg along Halekauwila Street where the discovery of ʻiwi, or bones, halted the rail project in the beginning.
The first section of the rail system from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium has been open to the public since 2023. The second segment is scheduled to open in 2025, connecting the existing part to Middle Street and adding stops for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the airport.
To link the second segment to the first, passenger service from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium must be suspended for a period.
"Last update I heard that it was going to be four weekends to do the shutdown, so hopefully we don't have major impact on the commuters during the weekday," Kahikina told HPR.
"But that could change. Department of Transportation Services has a huge say in how we do this. They might say, 'Just get it done, two full weeks, shut down the two full weeks, and get this thing going.' So nothing has been set in concrete as of today."
That shutdown is not expected until the end of 2025.
More information about riding Skyline can be found at honolulu.gov/skyline.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Aug. 21, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
