The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) has awarded Tutor Perini a $1.66 billion contract for the City Center Guideway and Stations Project that will the extend the light rail line to Ala Moana. 

The revised scope of the project includes the construction of six rail stations and roughly three miles of elevated rail guideway east through downtown Honolulu. Tutor Perini was the only bidder on a project that has faced delays as the project scope has changed since an earlier 2020 plan and two failed bids.

“This is the largest single contract of the entire project and sets the course for completing the project through downtown Honolulu,” Lori Kahikina, HART executive director and CEO, said in a statement. “We are excited to begin work with Tutor Perini to make this happen.”

The $1.66 billion agreement with Tutor Perini will take the project from Middle Street to the Civic Center station and serve as the third phase of an 18.9-mile rail line that runs from East Kapolei to Kaka’ako. Project design will begin immediately after contract execution and Tutor Perini will use Parsons Corporation as the design subcontractor. The project’s base scope includes elevated guideway supported by drilled shaft foundations and consisting of standard and eccentric piers, in addition to straddle bents.

The award of the CCGS contract is expected to release the next $250 million in federal funding to HART under the amended Full Funding Grant Agreement executed Feb. 2, 2024. The original agreement, signed in 2012, provided a grant of $1.55 billion for the larger project. HART has so far received roughly $931 million under the grant.

Reductions to the original plan were needed to keep the overall project on track. The joint project between HART and the city and county of Honolulu no longer includes the final 1.25 miles of guideway, a parking garage at Pearl Highlands and two stations—Kaka’ako and Ala Mona. It all comes as an effort to get the project moving again.

The City Center Guideway and Stations Project will extend the rail line to the from Mokauea station to City Center station.
Rendering courtesy HART

This is the third time HART has tried to finalize a contract on the city center to Ala Mona project. The first effort was scrapped before proposal were received and the second, structured as a public-private partnership in 2020, was abandoned after bids rose to over $2 billion.

Changing the scope meant HART could continue receiving federal funding. “HART’s newly accepted Recovery Plan will allow HART to update the project progress based on the revised scope and schedule included in the Recovery Plan,” the agency wrote about the reduction.

The growing costs associated with finishing the project and the often-delayed contract bids aren’t the only issues stemming from the HART project.

In 2023, a 2016 lawsuit brought against HART by the joint venture of Shimmick-Traylor-Granite was settled for $59.9 million. The lawsuit, seeking $99 million in damages, stemmed from the venture’s $875 million contract to build 5.2 miles of elevated track and four stations, which was met with delays based on utility relocation issues. The lawsuit alleged HART knew about the utility difficulties prior to the contract execution and did not fulfill an obligation to address the issues.