FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                              May 3, 2009

            HONOLULU RAIL TRANSIT PROJECT’S RUNWAY PROTECTION ZONE AVOIDANCE MEASURE APPROVED

Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced today that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has concurred with the City’s Runway Protection Zone (RPZ) avoidance measure for the Honolulu Rail Transit Project.

Mayor Hannemann is in receipt of an FAA letter stating the “rail project alignment is consistent with our standards for airport development.”

“This milestone means there are no outstanding issues associated with the rail system serving the Honolulu International Airport or completing the rail transit Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS),” said Mayor Mufi Hannemann. “I thank the FAA, the FTA and the State Department of Transportation for their valuable technical advice and cooperation in reaching this solution.”

“We are making significant progress toward breaking ground and beginning rail construction. Building the rail system is the state’s largest economic stimulus and will employ an average of 10,000 workers a year.”

The RPZ avoidance will relocate a portion of the project’s guideway several hundred feet, from Aolele Street to Ualena Street, beginning approximately 2,000 feet west of Lagoon Drive, and will relocate the Lagoon Drive rail station to the corner of Ualena Street and Lagoon Drive.  The alignment through the airport area will still be primarily along Aolele Street.

Construction of this segment of the project is expected to begin in 2014.

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Contact: Wayne Yoshioka 768-8305