The full Honolulu City Council gave its preliminary approval Wednesday for the Harris administration to create a new bus rapid transit lane that stretches from Kalihi to Manoa.

The vote was 8-1, with only Andy Mirikitani opposing the project.

"(The plan) will produce even more traffic gridlock and traffic volume and I believe shift traffic volume and congestion into surrounding streets and neighborhoods," Mirikitani said.

The project is expected to cost $880 million over ten years, with the federal government picking up almost two-thirds of the tab.

It would eliminate up to two current lanes of traffic in some areas. That has residents and business owners, particularly along Dillingham Boulevard in Kalihi, concerned about traffic and parking.

The proposal would include building a track for electrically operated buses to run through Kalihi to the University of Hawaii in Manoa.

The union that represents city bus drivers is against the plan.

"The most expensive, the most misunderstood and, in my opinion, the most detrimental choice is the BRT," said T.K. Hannemann of the Teamsters Union, Local 996.

But the company which runs Honolulu's city buses supports the proposal.

"I consider it a solid plan, I consider it a reasonable cost," Jim Cowen of Oahu Transit Services said.

The next step will be for the Harris administration to prepare an environmental impact statement as it comes up with specifics for the plan.

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• November 14, 2000: Rapid Transit Plan Clears Hurdle