HONOLULU -- Honolulu mayoral candidate Panos Prevedouros is an engineering professor who is dead set against Mayor Mufi Hannemann's proposed $3.7 billion rail transit system.

Prevedouros said that even if Oahu voters approve a steel-on-steel rail transit system on the November ballot, he would block it as mayor.

"As mayor I would simply say folks I really need to educate you as to what this system really means. We need to take another vote after doing a complete alternatives analysis," Prevedouros said.

Prevedouros favors high-occupancy-vehicle lanes with express buses.

Prevedouros was born in Greece. He has lived in the islands since 1990 while teaching civil engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Prevedouros, a founder of the Stop Rail Now movement, scoffs at the idea that he is running a one-issue, anti-rail campaign.

"I am a very diverse person and I have diverse specific knowledge that is relevant to Hawaii. I am an expert in operations and I am an expert in civil engineering, and that covers almost 90 percent of the job of the mayor in this city and county," he said.

Prevedouros said his engineering skills will help fix Oahu's aging sewers and deteriorating roads faster.

"The job of a mayor is prioritization of projects and I can do than better than any politician," Prevedouros said.

The candidate said Hannemann is doing the job too slowly.

"And I will give you specifics. We are doing a project on Kapiolani Boulevard. Kapiolani Boulevard is really a couple of miles and it has taken two years and it is not even nearly complete," Prevedouros said. "This is an elemental project that should take between six and 10 months, not over two years."

Even though his campaign is running at a $6,000 deficit, Prevedouros said he thinks he will appeal to Oahu voters sick of traffic, but wary of rail.