For Cost Overruns, Honolulu Rail Is In A League Of Its Own, New Data Shows … A former FTA planning director says it’s time to pause and study the best path forward for the troubled transit project.
Between 2007 and 2020, the new rail lines, busways, trolleys and other public transit systems that opened across the U.S. cost on average slightly less to build than predicted, according to the most recent Federal Transit Administration data available.
That’s in sharp contrast to Honolulu’s fledgling rail line, a system whose construction began around the same time as some of those finished transit projects and whose price tag has more than doubled since 2012.
One former, longtime FTA official who helped launch Honolulu rail more than a decade ago said the dramatic cost overruns that have plagued the project ever since construction started are worse than anything he’s seen.
