The Honolulu Rapid Transit Authority (HART) has awarded Tutor Perini a $1.66 billion contract for the Downtown Guideway and Stations Project that will extend the light rail line to Ala Moana.
The revised scope of the project includes the construction of six rail stations and approximately three miles of elevated guideways east through downtown Honolulu. Tutor Perini was the sole bidder for a project that has suffered delays as the scope of the project has changed from an earlier 2020 plan and two failed bids.
“This is the largest single contract of the entire project and sets the course for completing the project in downtown Honolulu,” Lori Kahikina, HART’s executive director and CEO, said in a statement. “We are excited to begin working with Tutor Perini to make this possible.”
The $1.66 billion deal with Tutor Perini will take the project from Middle Street to the Civic Center station and serve as the third phase of an 18.9-mile rail line that runs from East Kapolei to Kaka’ako. Project design will begin immediately following contract execution and Tutor Perini will use Parsons Corporation as a design subcontractor. The base scope of the project includes an elevated guideway supported by drilled shaft foundations and consisting of standard and eccentric piers as well as straddle bends.
The award of the CCGS contract is expected to release the next $250 million in federal funding to HART under the amended full funding grant agreement signed on February 2, 2024. The original agreement, signed in 2012 , provided a $1.55 billion grant for the largest grant. project HART has received approximately $931 million from the grant to date.
Reductions from the original plan were needed to keep the overall project on track. The joint project between HART and the City and County of Honolulu no longer includes the last 1.25 miles of guideway, a parking lot at Pearl Highlands and two stations: Kaka’ako and Ala Mona. Everything comes as an effort to get the project moving again.
The Project Guide and downtown stations
will extend the train line from Mokauea Station to City Center Station.
Rendering courtesy of HART
This is the third time HART has tried to finalize a contract on the downtown project with Ala Mona. The first effort was scrapped before the proposal was received, and the second, structured as a public-private partnership in 2020, was abandoned after bids exceeded $2 billion.
Changing the scope meant that HART could continue to receive federal funding. “HART’s newly adopted Recovery Plan will allow HART to update project progress based on the revised scope and schedule included in the Recovery Plan,” the agency wrote of the reduction.
Rising costs associated with project completion and often delayed contract bids are not the only problems arising from the HART project.
In 2023, a 2016 lawsuit against HART by the Shimmick-Traylor-Granite joint venture was settled for $59.9 million. The lawsuit, which sought $99 million in damages, stemmed from the company’s $875 million contract to build 5.2 miles of elevated track and four stations, which faced delays due to relocation issues of public services. The lawsuit alleged that HART knew about the utility difficulties before the contract was executed and failed to fulfill its obligation to address the problems.
