Civil Beat/HNN Poll: Rail Remains Unpopular But Support For TMT Is Solid 0 Three years after mass protests on Mauna Kea over the Thirty Meter Telescope project, supporters still outnumber opponents by a 2-to-1 margin.
The half-built, long-delayed Honolulu rail project is as unpopular as ever with Honolulu voters, while strong public support for the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea appears to be holding relatively steady, according to a new Civil Beat/Hawaii News Now poll.
After a decade of rail drama including years of delays and colossal cost overruns, public opinion on rail hasn’t changed much: Voters today are just as sour on the project as when the entire ordeal began, according to the new poll data.
When the city entered into a formal agreement with the Federal Transit Administration to build the Honolulu rail line nearly a decade ago, the full 20-mile transit project was expected to cost about $5.2 billion. A Civil Beat poll earlier that year (2012) showed that 55% of Honolulu voters opposed the project.
