I could understand how ice would change the temperature and thus affect the taste but I would have thought that any dilution of the product would be undesirable. Interesting.

This is coming from someone who doesn't really like whiskey though. I'll drink it before I touch tequila though!

Keep in mind that the alcohol is bottled at a lot of different proofs.  Some, especially the ones at cask strength, can be hard to take as is.  Just a drop or two of water at room temp can make it seem like a completely different whiskey.

Speaking of tequila.........that and mezcals are interesting to drink if you get good bottlings.  The stuff you used to taste as a youngster is the crap stuff, but a good tequila/mezcal can be quite tasty.

Do you think the bus system expansion would make a big dent? If someone isn't going to go from bus to train to bus then they aren't going to go from bus to bus to bus either. The bus also has limitations, such as driver error and they still get screwed by traffic. Busses don't offer the speed that a rail system can, mainly because of traffic. Now I am not knocking the bus system, but I think its limitations mean it wont be able to fully address future traffic issues.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages and I don't think one could ever completely replace the other.

Ultimately, whether we build a rail or even triple the capability of the bus system, the public mindset has to change in order for them to become effective. Forcing a mindset change would be difficult but I think the ever increasing population means it will happen sooner or later if for no other reason than traffic is so bad or the cost of having a car is so expensive.

My issue when it comes to the rail is all the fishiness behind the curtains, not the actual idea of a train system itself. The ever expanding budget is inexcusable. Every time bones are found it seems to add millions to the cost of construction alone! Gotta wonder if the contracts were written poorly.

There doesn't need to be a Bus system expansion.  The Bus as-is is already a very good mass transit system.

What is need are improvements to the on grade streets so certain key intersections can become off grade (one up higher & one down lower leading to reduced wait times and gridlock).  This in and of itself will help to reduce gridlock (think the Piikoi/Beretania area & the Vineyard on-ramp..........this would pay massively and would be extremely cost effective).

Again you missed my point about the BRT system.  This changes The Bus from a mass transit to a rapid transit system.  This means that they have their own dedicated lanes.  This would help to reduce times for ridership.  As far as their being driver error...........come on man that's grasping at straws.  You don't think Rail will also have issues too (and those are completely new issues that we have no experience with since it's a brand new system)?

Regarding changing how people think.  No we don't people already use Rail.  Again it's not about changing that perspective it's about making it convenient enough so it makes sense.  Again this means density around the Rail line.  This is how and why Rail works.

As far as finding bones adding cost.  It happens but the impact can be reduced by having good up front surveys of the areas under construction and having pre-determined ways to address issues as they come up.  I can guarantee you this..........it's not the artifacts and iwi that are adding the bulk of the cost to the project.  It's poor planning, Government waste, stupid reporting requirements, overall lack of accountability..............in other words it's a typical Government project.


I realize that you feel strongly about your opinions, but you should realize my background is in Civil Engineering, so I studies this in college.  I am in construction so I do this on a daily basis.  As a kid I used The Bus quite a bit to get back home from school in town.  I used to support Rail when it first came out but after I had a chance to look at the supporting (or lack thereof) documents I changed my mind.  Should say something to you that someone in my position who would benefit directly financially from this project does not support it............................

I would expand it a little more than 1/2 mile, but that's just my experience.Again, if there is a convenient bus line that connects to a rail station is greatly expands the ridership. 

Yes, rapid transit benefits from population density but let me ask you this, is it better to build it ahead of time when it is easier or build it later when we are more dense and it would be harder to build?

And in the meantime there really aren't a lot of realistic proposals to deal with our traffic problems as it is.

I disagree.  Expansion of BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) lanes has been proposed and ignored.  This is really nothing more than minor lane expansion, repainting, and signage changes.  Very cheap to implement and able to be implemented across the entire island of Oahu if so desired.

The other item that would help is to offset on grade intersections (think slight underpass and slight overpass where both directions can move at the same time).  This would pay massive dividends during rush hour traffic by enabling traffic to flow.

Both of these are very cheap solutions.


Now will this solve traffic?  No it won't.  Every conference that I've been to where this issue comes up is like this; (A) steal space make more lanes, (B) traffic bottle necks eventually become worse because you have more lane miles still feeding the same choke point, (C) eventually pony up the money and increase the number of lanes.  This is true up in Portland near the Washington border at in New York at the Tappan Zee Bridge.

I would expand it a little more than 1/2 mile, but that's just my experience.Again, if there is a convenient bus line that connects to a rail station is greatly expands the ridership. 

Yes, rapid transit benefits from population density but let me ask you this, is it better to build it ahead of time when it is easier or build it later when we are more dense and it would be harder to build?

And in the meantime there really aren't a lot of realistic proposals to deal with our traffic problems as it is.

By its very definition you need density for Rapid Transit to work.  Rapid Transit is basically a mass transit system (think The Bus), but with a dedicated roadway/railway/lanes/etc.  Because the route fixed it is not flexible. 

By comparison a mass transit system like The Bus is extremely flexible and for that reason is better able in our situation to adapt to what the ridership requirements are.



Regarding when things should be built...........no it's not good to build now as we are paying the bulk of the costs for this type of system.  Now this is just the construction costs, when you get into the actual costs to operate and maintain the system it's a horrendous idea.  The very same thing could have been done but using The Bus.  No expensive railway maintenance or support powerstations.  No needing special rail cars.  No needing dedicated & specialized labor to fix the system.   

Also if the width of the structure is widened a bit you could allow for toll usage.  The guys battling to get into town in the morning and getting home at night...........a lot of them would pay for that use.  Think too that the support power stations would not have to be built, run and maintained/repaired.  That dedicated specialized railcar maintenance yards would not be required.

I urge you to truly look at there being alternatives to what was shoved down our throats and realize the County has made mistake after mistake after mistake.

Yes, two a day is good but it didn't happen as often as it could have. I didn't want to add the inability of one of the superintendents to maintain that schedule. I don't want get into why. The preparation of the area and and pre drilling, grouting, etc also took many days that we didn't drill the shafts. And yes on top of all the items you mentioned above. I didn't want to get into too much detail. I didn't realize that you are familiar with the project.

So I have a question for you. If the half % GET tax hike is insufficient to pay the over runs and exhorbatant additional costs of this project within a reasonable time frame, then what is to stop them from keeping the GET hike AND raise our property taxes on top of that? And once that property tax hike is in place it will never go back down again. Yeah, I hate the rail.

I doubt the pensions would be enough to scratch at the overruns. However, I do believe that all the bribes and under the table cash they take might pay it off the first year. 

Yeah keeping the 1/2% and jacking up the property tax.............worst case situation is going to happen.

Regarding pay it off, won't happen but I want those lying sacks of crap to pay for their bullcrap.  The worst thing I come across is when people don't even try to come up with a good lie.

I worked on the first 130 or 140 shafts from Kroc Center to out along Farrington to Fort Weaver Road. All of them are dry and most are well under 100' with a handful just over 100'. We didn't see a wet shaft until we got out into Waipahu on the Diamond Head side of Fort Weaver Road. Most of the shafts from there on out are wet shafts.

All of the wet shafts are deeper than 100'. Your time frame for the wet shafts being a week is correct. On the first 130-140 shafts Kiewit was pouring concrete in a shaft a day. Unless we hit bedrock sooner than expected. In which case it took 2 days to drill and place concrete. I was there. Everyday. Also, we had two drill crews working. So some days we would place concrete in 2 shafts a day. Again, I was there.
I have never seen in my lifetime a temporary tax that did not become permanent at some point. So I believe the half percent tax hike is a permanent tax rate for us. Not saying it can't happen but I doubt it will ever go away. I agree I am afraid our property taxes will probably go up because of this. If they don't increase property taxes to the outer islands will we see an exodus to the outer islands? Just a thought.

I C about the earlier shafts, I didn't really look at them until they got into Waipahu.

Pouring two a day is good, but most likely you guys are completing, flocking, cleaning, testing, then pouring........pain in the butt, but what's spec'd.

I fear you are right about the tax being permanent, but I'd rather see that than my property tax go up.  At least there's more people to share in the pain.  Personally I think we should take the legislators', Mayors', Govs' pensions for all those that supported rail and apply that to the overruns.

I was told that Kiewit has not bid for the second half of the project. The bids are already in. I was told that Kiewit is losing money on this project. How true that is I cannot say.

The first half of the concrete guideway columns were mostly drilled into dry, above the water table, shafts where the bedrock was less than or around 100' in depth. Shafts can be drilled in a day or two and use just a drill rig. The second half of the of the concrete guideway columns are almost all wet shafts, drilled below the water table, with depths of 200' plus. Shafts will take a week plus to drill and requires specialized drilling equipment to deal with the wet conditions in the shafts. This does not include much larger and heavier cranes that are required and more Union Operators and Union Laborers to operate the additional equipment. Yeah, it could take a minimum of 2 or 3 times longer just to build the second half. That translates into a minimum of 2-3 times higher costs over the first half. Probably more like 4-5 times IMHO. Whether the more urban area has any affect on the cost, I can't say.

To me, it doesn't look good. We were sold a bill of goods and we are going to pay dearly. And I wouldn't be surprised if the 0.50% GET increase finds its way to the outer islands eventually.

Kiewit losing money - I heard the same story.  I didn't originally think so, but I do now.

With regards to the initial shafts being dry, not true.  A serious amount of the shafts are wet and most likely deeper than 100'.  Also the methodology selected by HART was to oscillate the temp/permanent casing in.  This adds a major amount of time and cost into both ends of the shaft construction.  You're more like a week a shaft than 2 days and certainly not 1 day.  I do agree that the next phase will be more difficult and costly as you get into Honolulu proper.

I don't see the 1/2% tax making it off island, Rail is a Honolulu problem and don't see how the other counties would give in or be forced to also charge the tax.  My great fear is the tax goes away and now the people have to make the difference up in property value taxes.

I heard this morning on the news that HART is holding off opening the bids for the second half (stadium to Ala Moana) segment and stations. They did not say why. If they wait too long it will cost us even more because there will no longer be a smooth transition between general contractors and sub contractors when the first half ends and the second half starts. To me this is deceptive because HART does not want the public to hear the reality of the total cost of the project. The second half of the rail is going to be much more difficult and take longer to construct than the first half. Which means the second half will cost Honolulu tax payers more than the first half which is already over budget by more than a BILLION dollars. 

Don't be surprised if the rail project is stopped right at the stadium for the next 20 years. 

There will not be any smooth transition from Kiewit to whoever wins the next segment of rail. 

The scuttlebutt has been for quite some time that Kiewit would not bid the next phase of the rail project.

Will the next part of rail cost more............probably just because you are getting into the more dense urban core than Kapolei and Waipahu.  Deceptive, I dunno about that.  If you want the price just take HARTs estimates and bump them up 50%+.

I have always kind of been on the fence on this issue. On the one hand I am sure there is waste left and right and I wouldn't be surprised if there was some corruption as well, but on the other hand I do think a rail system would serve the island well. Imagine if we tried to build this 20 years from now when we were more crowded.

Here's the kicker...........RAIL only works if it is crowded.  You need pretty much most of the ridership to live within 1/2 mile max of the support stations.  Once you pass this distance it's more feasible to run buses. 

All the buildup of housing in Kakaako............if you supported RAIL, then you support this even if you don't realize it.

HECO's Honolulu power generation facility has been deactivated and mothballed for the last couple of years. That would tell me that they are getting enough power from wind and PV to idle that plant.


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RAIL is supposed to have support plants, stations, maintenance facilities to support the new service.  The infrastructure as it is now will not support RAIL.

Depends what you are going to use this for.  If you are talking using this at the range, then the 12X is good.  If you are talking about glassing in the field then you might get a lot of eye strain with a 12X with all the bounce you're going to see with it.