Judge deals rail setback but dismisses bulk of plaintiffs' claims

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/176887081.html?id=176887081

By Kevin Dayton

POSTED: 03:48 p.m. HST, Nov 01, 2012

A federal judge has dealt another legal setback to the $5.26 billion Honolulu rail project.

Federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled today the city "failed to complete reasonable efforts to identify" traditional cultural properties along the 20-mile proposed rail line, and ordered the city to identify those properties.

"Before continuing with the project in any way that may use unidentified (traditional cultural properties) defendants must complete their identification of above-ground TCPs within the corridor," the ruling says.

The city also didn’t adequately consider building a Beretania Street tunnel as part of an alternative to a rail line and didn’t properly evaluate whether the rail project would constructively use a Mother Waldron Park in Kakaako, the judge ruled.