Honolulu, Aloha Rapid Transit: Episode 16

Introducing the US's latest, greatest, delayed, and cost-overrun rapid transit project: Honolulu Area Rapid Transit. Oahu has been attempting to build a metro for many decades (since the Great Society programs of the 1960s), but the island was not able to assemble, fund, and break ground on a project until 2011. We introduce the history and geography of Oahu, talk about the success of Mayor Fasi's bus system, and tour the past, present, and future of the HART project. The first phase of Honolulu's much-needed metro system is right around the corner! Links and stuffs Merch:https://shop.trlpod.com/ Twitter:@TheRedLine_pod YouTube channel:The Red Line Podcast Spotify:The Red Line Podcast Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/theredlinepodcasters Email:[email protected] Website:https://www.trlpod.com/ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:24 Theme song (no news today) 00:56 A big project for Honolulu's size 02:41 Oahu's geography[7] 04:21 History of public transit in Honolulu [5] 07:40 Mayor Fasi 09:54 TheBus 10:37 Success & ridership 12:11 No space to expand H1 12:29 How HART got its start 12:55 High-capacity transit attempted since early on 13:45 Reagan 14:48 Cheese 15:57 Light rail not suited 16:33 Fasi returns 17:44 The HART project of today 18:29 EIS purgatory 20:24 2008 recession 21:49 The project finally starts 23:18 Fully elevated 24:40 Tourism & surfboard racks 25:31 Light metro features 27:10 Ridership 28:14 Cost overruns, delays, et cetera 28:33 Cost overruns 28:46 Huge delays 29:45 The American cost snake 31:48 Initial cost estimate 33:01 Protected wilderness 33:43 Human remains 39:12 Usual NIMBY nonsense 39:45 Cost of total elevation 41:59 Moral of the story 43:00 Outro References & notes [1]Wikipedia: Honolulu Rail Transit § Previous projects [2]Hawai'i Real Estate and Living: Honolulu Rail Transit Status [3]Wikipedia: Honolulu [4]Hawaii Business Magazine: How Rail Got to $12.45 Billion and 11 Years Late [5]Wikipedia: TheBus (Honolulu) [6]Honolulu Rail Transit: International lessons from Barcelona in linking urban form, design, and transportation [7] There are other freeways on Oahu, but H1 is the principal freeway, covering the main urbanized area. H2 and H3 connect through the mountains to outlying suburbs.