The United States House Appropriations Committee has announced that they will be reducing the Honolulu Rail Project’s New Starts federal funding in 2013 from $250 million to $100 million. Surprised by this turn of events, Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, stated, “It is unfortunate that my Republican colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee voted to cut funding for one of President Obama’s top transportation priorities. We have to move forward, together, to create jobs and offer our residents and visitors a much needed alternative to driving on over-congested roads, while at the same time lessening our dependence on imported fossil fuels.”
Executive Director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, Daniel Grabauskas, added, “We are confident that as we move forward with the Federal Transit Administration on signing a full funding grant agreement later this year. Senator Dan Inouye and our entire congressional delegation will work to increase the final level of funding for Honolulu and keep the project moving forward so that we can provide Oahu residents with much needed relief from what is now the worst traffic congestion in the country.”
The bigger concern would be if the United States Congress will agree to give the Honolulu Rail Project the $1.55 billion of federal funding needed. Cliff Slater, an opponent of the rail project, stated, “There is a lot of opposition to wasting money, and in our view there is no greater waste of money than the rail project. I don’t think it’s possible to justify the cost-effectiveness with such a small benefit at such a huge cost.”
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 6-20-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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