FTA gives HART until April 30 to submit recovery plan

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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The underslung truss begins to make its way past Kuleana Road in Pearl City.
HART

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) until April 30, 2017, to submit a recovery plan for the project.

In a letter to Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell from FTA Regional Administrator Leslie T. Rogers, FTA denies the original requested extension of July 30, 2017, but said the administration appreciates “the many challenges HART has faced in design and construction of the project.”

In December 2012, the FTA and the city signed a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) committing the federal government’s $1.55 billion for Honolulu to build a 20-mile elevated rail system with 21 stations. However, cost estimates put the price tag of the project at $8.6 billion to $9.5 billion. HART has $6.8 billion in confirmed funding and FTA has denied a request to increase its funding commitment to the project.

The interim recovery plan HART outlined for FTA includes two options: Securing additional funding commitments during the 2017 city and state legislative process, which would allow the original scope of the project to be met or build to budget.

HART recently hired Krishniah N. Murthy as the authority’s interim executive director and CEO. Murthy is an award-winning engineer and the former executive director for Transit Project Delivery at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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