LOS ANGELES — After a nearly three-year battle, Honolulu officials prevailed over opponents of Oahu's $5.26 billion elevated-rail project with two federal court victories on Feb. 18.
The 20-mile rail transit project has been the subject of several environmental lawsuits that have slowed the project.
In a November 2012 split-decision ruling, U.S. District Court Judge A. Wallace Tashima had approved the city continuing work on the first three phases of the 20-mile rail line, but said he wanted further environmental reviews conducted before work could begin on the fourth phase near downtown Honolulu.
Tashima ordered city officials to more thoroughly evaluate the impacts to Native Hawaiian burials sites and Mother Waldron Park in Kakaako, explain why a tunnel under Beretania Street wasn't considered as an alternative route, and identify burial sites on the route.
The city responded with an 800-page document at the end of last year detailing additional environmental work conducted by the city. That document drew an appeal from former governor Ben Cayetano and other members of honolulutraffic.com, who led the fight against the project.
Detractors lost the battle this week when a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that Oahu's planned elevated rail project complies with environmental law. The panel upheld Tashima's original 2012 order, which largely favored the city.
On the lower court level in the same case, Tashima ruled that transit officials had properly considered an alternative route ending at University of Hawaii's Manoa campus before instead selecting the route ending at Ala Moana Center.
The judge also lifted an order blocking most construction and property acquisition in the heart of town.
The court decisions put an end to attempts led by Cayetano, retired businessman Cliff Slater, and prominent UH law professor Randall Roth, to derail the project, currently under construction.
Slater told reporters at a Tuesday press conference that the rulings conclude their legal fight, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser.
"Our preliminary decision is that there is little likelihood of prevailing in any further legal action," he said.
