As Honolulu's Skyline rail system moves into Oʻahu’s urban core, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation invites the public to a community workshop on April 23 to learn more about the plans for the Iwilei rail station.
There has been concern about the rail as escalators have been eliminated from some of the stations, like in Chinatown, as work pushes ahead towards downtown. HART says the town hall will not address major design changes to the stations.
Additionally, construction along Skyline’s proposed route has led to some unexpected finds; like the iwi, or human remains, unearthed in Halekauwila, as well as an undocumented underground fuel tank.
HART marked a key milestone earlier in April as the first column was poured at the corner of Ala Moana Boulevard and Fort Street by Aloha Tower.
HART CEO Lori Kahikina sat down to speak with HPR just after celebrating the major milestone.
Interview Highlights
On the guideway column milestone
LORI KAHIKINA: So that’s a huge milestone for us. … We actually have about 20 shafts that have already been dug, and we've got the foundations in, and then the next step is the columns. And I want to say there's going to be about 140 columns all the way through the city center guideway station. So this is the first of many, and I think the next ones are going to be coming up in the Iwilei area. There's going to be decorative ones, just like on the west side at each of the stations, we'll have a decorative column. So we just wanted to highlight that, OK, it's the start of the next segment, because we've done a lot of work underground where people really can't see the physical accomplishments that are being done.
On rail construction underway in Chinatown
KAHIKINA: You have all of these stations, and they're very difficult to build; they are starting immediately. So actually, the foundation work for Chinatown station should start within the next if not by the end of this month. I want to say within the next couple of months, they're already going to start the work over there, and so they'll concurrently build the stations along with the guideway. We are working very closely with all of the utilities and making sure they are very much aware of the work that we're doing.
On rail construction approaching downtown
KAHIKINA: We're caught between (Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation and Department of Health), and they both have very valid concerns, and so we're trying to stay within the means. Because yes, if we had our choice, we would shut down Nimitz Highway, both directions, so we have a huge area to work with. We don't have to worry about pedestrian and traffic access because it makes us less efficient. But obviously there's no way we're going to shut down Nimitz. That's what we're worried about is, if something unforeseen happens, and we do have to extend hours, because I want to say during the regular work hours, we can shut down, let's say maybe two lanes, but when peak traffic, we have to put it back to one lane. So just anything unforeseen that happens, we will adversely impact the community in one way or another, and we don't need to frustrate them any more than they already are.
The HART station design workshop takes place at Honolulu Community College cafeteria on April 23rd at 6 p.m. More information can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on April 23, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
