Six private parcels to be acquired for rail transit mitigation change

Mayor Mufi Hannemann today announced a plan to mitigate concerns about the Honolulu Rail Transit Project’s proximity to a Runway Protection Zone near the Honolulu International Airport. The Federal Transit Administration has agreed to the mitigation and the City is moving forward to complete the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

The mitigation will relocate a portion of the project’s guideway several hundred feet, from Aolele Street to Ualena Street, beginning approximately 2,000 feet west of Lagoon Drive, and will relocate the Lagoon Drive rail station to the corner of Ualena Street and Lagoon Drive. The alignment through the airport area will still be primarily along Aolele Street.

Construction of this segment of the project is expected to begin in 2014.

Engineering work to reflect the mitigation plan has been completed. Right-of-way acquisitions along Ualena Street will be reflected in the FEIS.

The City will contact affected property owners. Six private parcels with structures over 50 years old along Ualena Street and Waiwai Loop will be acquired for the project route. The City and its consultants have determined that none of these structures are eligible for consideration in the National Register of Historic Places, and will await concurrence from the State Historical Preservation Division, which has up to 30 days to render its findings on the issue.