Mayor finds rail transit support

Leeward commuters weary of traffic jams attend a meeting on transportation options

Residents attending a mass transit informational meeting yesterday at Kapolei Hale appeared to agree with Mayor Mufi Hannemann on rail transit.

"We are rail supporters," Waianae resident Kapua Keliikoa-Kamai said of herself and her husband, but urged the mayor to link transportation with affordable homes.

Others at the hour-and-a-half event asked Hannemann to try harder to fulfill Kapolei's destiny as a "Second City" by encouraging jobs there, so not all workers have to commute.

Mark Giblin noted that one proposed route seems to run right over his property, and said he would hold Hannemann to his promise that he'd get just compensation if the location holds.

"This is a good turnout for a Saturday morning," Hannemann said about a crowd of about 100. "It shows the desire of people who live in West Oahu for traffic relief now."

"I really believe we should build a light rail system," Hannemann said, adding that the city is committed to reviewing the four options being presented by its consultant, Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas Inc.

The company is preparing construction and maintenance cost and ridership estimates for the city, to help the mayor and City Council decide whether to:

Building a 23-mile rail line would cost about $3 billion and serve 120,000 to 150,000 riders per day, according to the company's estimates announced last week.

The company also released artists' renderings of what elevated portions of a rail system would look like in some locations. Those attending yesterday's event didn't comment on the look of a 60-foot high raised rail platform that would be needed to get rail over the H-1 freeway to the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus.

Parsons Brinckerhoff's presentation yesterday included graphs that purport to compare the estimated ridership and estimated cost for each route option.

Displays at yesterday's event, which will be replicated tomorrow and Wednesday in other locations, included a DVD that simulated flight over the general route from Kapolei to Manoa and large still photographs that show options for routes, stations and park-and-ride lots.

"I think we should use rail, bus, ferry, everything we have," Mililani resident and real estate agent Marion Heath said at yesterday's event. She said some former mainland residents moving to Leeward Oahu think a 20-mile commute to Honolulu will be a breeze, until they try it.

Bob Farrell said he moved to downtown Honolulu nearer his job after the commute from Makakilo got longer and longer for 12 years as traffic increased.