Friday, October 10, 2008

How Would Elevated Rail Look in Honolulu?

I visited Miami which has a similar open air system, similar weather and similar type of fully elevated rail. Parenthetically I should mention that Miami with which we share several geographic, weather and cultural similarities has the county's worse level of ridership for its massive and expensive fully elevated rail.

Miami's stations are longer but lower than the ones proposed for Honolulu. Take a look at this YouTube pictorial tour:



Imagine this structure along Farrington Hwy. and in the middle of Kamehameha Highway. But that's the good news. Try to fit it in your mind along Salt Lake Blvd., Dillingham Blvd., Ala Moana Blvd. and Queen St. and Kona St.

Miami had the room to put this thing on the side of a very wide artery which today is seven lanes wide. Honolulu does not have this luxury. Many properties and will be lost permanently to add this urban blight directly overhead along vital arteries with its pylons permanently closing traffic lanes.

We are all concerned that tourism is down now. Let's see what the impact to tourism will be when 30+ miles of permanent blight of this type is installed on Oahu.