HART TO HOLD COMMUNITY MEETINGS ON NEWEST RAIL STATION DESIGNS

News Release from HART June 18, 2013 

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) will hold a series of community meetings starting next week to discuss rail station designs and to collect input from the public.

HART Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, HART Board Chairwoman Carrie Okinaga and City Council Transportation Committee Chairman Breene Harimoto held a press conference today in Waipahu to announce the community meetings and to unveil a model of the West Loch station.

The first meeting will be held Tuesday, June 25, for the “Farrington Highway Station Group,” which includes the West Loch, Waipahu Transit Center and Leeward Community College stations. The meeting will be held at Waipahu Intermediate School, 94-455 Farrington Hwy. Registration is at 6 p.m. with the meeting starting at 6:30 p.m.

A meeting to discuss the East Kapolei and UH-West Oahu stations will be held Tuesday, July 30 at Kapolei Hale at 1000 Uluohia Street. Registration for the Kapolei meeting starts at 6 p.m., with the meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m.

“Our rail stations are in the process of being redesigned to be modular, smaller and more user-friendly, and to fit better with surrounding communities,” Grabauskas said. “We are looking forward to sharing our latest designs and to receiving some feedback on what the public would like to see.”

“Our administration is committed to building rail better, and ensuring the public has the opportunity to provide input on the rail system whenever possible is an important part of that effort,” said Mayor Caldwell. “We hope residents will be excited about the designs for their respective stations and see these stations as future gathering centers in their community.”

“We invite the community to partner with us in this process,” said Okinaga. “We understand that our communities are unique and that makes it all the more important to hold a series of meetings throughout the alignment so that the public has several opportunities to weigh in.”

“This is an excellent opportunity for the community to learn more about the project and to share their thoughts. The rail system and these stations will be important parts of the community and we want to make sure the stations, where possible, reflect the rich character and history of Waipahu,” said Harimoto.

Community meetings for the other regional station groups from Pearl City to Honolulu will be held in the future. Two public meetings are planned for each regional station group. Station design contracts were recently awarded for the Airport and urban Honolulu phases of the route.

For more information about the Honolulu rail transit project, see our project website at www.honolulutransit.org.

Farrington Highway Station Designs

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