Honolulu Light Rail Taking Shape

"On a rural expanse of Oahu’s leeward coast, a line of concrete pillars snakes through fields of corn stalks and pumpkins toward downtown Honolulu where distant high rises jut into the sky through a muggy haze," reports Sophie Cocke. The pillars are a conspicuous sign of a game-changing light rail project. At a price of $5.2 billion, "the rail project is the largest public works project in Hawaii’s history," and the plan has been in the works since the 1960s.

Cocke's coverage of the current state of the route also looks forward, detailing some of the development plans for the corridor. "A plan, recently approved by Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the Honolulu City Council, dubbed, 'Live, Work, Play, Aiea,' includes up to 1,500 residential units in five new high-rises, as well as retail space and a possible hotel. The development is slated to be built around the planned Pearlridge Transit Station."