Now companies from all over the world have come forward wanting to be part of it but experts right here in Hawaii said it's a bad investment.

In 1992, Honolulu came close to approving a fixed transit system but the City Council voted it down.

Now a tax increase is already in place and the city is collecting money for the project that has been decades in the making.

"People want a project they don't want anymore studies they need options and that's what we're providing so I'm sure we won't repeat the failures of the past," said Mayor Mufi Hannemann, City of Honolulu.

The idea would build a transit system over existing roadways from Kapolei into Honolulu, stopping every mile along the way. It is a $5 billion project. Four design options have been submitted from 12 different companies. A five member panel will recommend which is best.

"I'm not an engineer no one on city council is an engineer. Let the professionals come forward with a recommendation after they've reviewed it," said Mayor Hannemann.

"There is no credible analysis at any level that shows a rail will solve anything," said Professor Panos Prevedouros, PhD.

University of Hawaii at Manoa Professor Prevedouros is a transportation engineer.

He is also on the five member panel to study the options and said the proposed transit is a $5 billion mistake.

"Mainland experience has shown us if you build it they will not come. At best you will attract six percent of commuters which is nowhere near what is needed to relieve traffic."

He believes people are too dependent on cars and the transit plan is only a point to point option that does not fit Honolulu.

"Rail has its use, Tokyo, New York, London, Paris, Taipei; those are cities with eight or more million people. Where do we go with this massive investment for 600,000 people? And with a growth rate among the lowest in metropolitan areas in the United States?" said Professor Prevedouros. "So there is really no rational justification for this boondoggle as I call it."

"No one has indicated we have a weak project," said Mayor Hannemann.

The panel will make its recommendation by the end of February.

The mayor hopes to break ground on the project by the end of 2009.

Click here to read the press release
Click here for sample pictures of the various options
Click here to see more about the project from the Honolulu City & County

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