HONOLULU — The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation on Thursday announced $125 million in long-awaited federal funding to aid in the ongoing construction of the nearly $10 billion Skyline project.
HART says it received the funds Wednesday from the Federal Transit Administration and that it signals the successful completion of the project’s amended full funding grant agreement, or FFGA, which was executed Feb. 1.
This is the first federal funding under the FFGA that the rail agency has received since 2017.
“Thanks to the collaboration of the Federal Transit Administration, the HART Board, Mayor Rick Blangiardi, the Hawai‘i Congressional Delegation, and the Honolulu City Council, HART was able to successfully execute an amendment to the FFGA, which allows this important public works project to continue moving forward,” HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina said in a written statement.
“These funds are necessary for us to complete the project and will help us achieve our construction milestones as we work through the critical path of the project.”
Signed in 2012, the original FFGA provided a grant of $1.55 billion for the rail project.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, HART says, it had received approximately $806 million. The amended FFGA reaffirmed the FTA’s commitment to the remaining $744 million and prescribed milestones for when the federal funding will be available to the rail project, HART says.
The recent execution of the amended FFGA was the first milestone, which triggered this release of the $125 million. After receiving the $125 million, there is a remaining $619 million — $806 million minus the $125 million just received — the agency confirmed.
HART says the remaining funds will be released in four tranches based upon the achievement of certain milestones, the next one of which is the award of the City Center Guideway and Stations contract, which is expected to happen later this year.
When HART awards that contract — which intends to build the city’s rail line to a station in Kakaako by 2031 — an additional $250 million will be made available for the project, the agency says.
Meantime, receipt of the federal funds comes as HART faces the loss of key employees.
In early April, HART Project Director Nate Meddings abruptly resigned from his three-year post to guide construction of Skyline to Kakaako by 2031. HART said his departure on April 8 was family-related. To fill the director’s position, HART promoted Deputy Project Director Vance Tsuda.
But Meddings’ resignation drew dismay from HART’s board, particularly during the April 12 meeting of its Human Resources Committee, where board Chair Colleen Hanabusa and Kahikina clashed over whether enough had been done to keep him.
Michele Chun Brunngraber, HART’s Human Resources Committee chair, has expressed concern over the loss of employees, including the pending retirement of HART Deputy Executive Director Rick Keene by the end of the year.
As of January, there are 135 authorized city positions at HART.
