Mayor Mufi Hannemann said he doesn't fear putting the city's proposed $3.7 billion rail-transit plan to a vote and remains confident the public will back the project.

Opponents of the rail project say they have collected 40,000 signatures to put the issue on a ballot.

"I'm not afraid of an initiative vote," Hannemann said. "I respect the initiative process. It's part of the law and that's fine. I believe this (rail) will prevail."

Hannemann made his comments during a news conference with four former directors of the state Department of Transportation who said the city's planned $3.7 billion rail system is the only viable solution to help alleviate O'ahu's traffic gridlock.

Rail opponents countered that the former transportation chiefs were partly to blame for O'ahu's traffic congestion.

"If these people were ever any good at their jobs, we wouldn't have gridlock, we wouldn't have bottlenecks, we wouldn't have neglect, and we wouldn't have roads and highways and freeways full of potholes," Eric Ryan, campaign manager for Stop Rail Now, said in a news release.

SIGNATURE DISPUTE

At the Honolulu Hale news conference, Hannemann also addressed recent comments from Gov. Linda Lingle suggesting an independent study is needed to verify the facts for and against the project because the discourse has turned bitter.

"People don't want studies, they want action," Hannemann said. "We had an action plan ready to go in the '60s and here we are in the 2000s and it's still ready to go."

Stop Rail Now started the petition drive April 21 with the goal of obtaining 40,000 signatures, which the group says is sufficient to put the issue on the November ballot. The group said last week it reached that goal.

However, the city clerk's office says that the group will need valid signatures from at least 44,525 registered voters.

Stop Rail Now's proposed ordinance reads: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail."

Lingle said on Saturday that she had signed the petition because she wanted to give voters a chance to approve or knock down the plan.

Hannemann defended the rail plan yesterday, saying, "Rail is the right thing to do. It is the pono thing to do. That's why we are committed to making it happen."

In introducing the four former transportation directors, Hannemann said none is involved in the rail project or stands to make money from it.

Fujio Matsuda, Kazu Hayashida, Rod Haraga and Ed Hirata all said the idea of a train in Honolulu has been studied and discussed since the 1960s, and that it would be an environmentally friendly way to alleviate traffic congestion.

STRONG ENDORSEMENTS

All agreed that given rising gas prices and a stagnant economy, the city's project is long overdue.

Matsuda, state transportation director from 1963 to 1973 under former Gov. John Burns, spoke of the three previous attempts to bring rail to Honolulu.

"We have lost many valuable years and dollars by deferring the decision. This is not a passing phenomenon. If it was a good solution back in the '70s, '80s and '90s, it will be even more so in the 21st century," Matsuda said. "Every time the (plan) was studied, the answer invariably came out rail transit. I don't know how many times we have to study it before the answer changes."

Haraga, who was Lingle's transportation director from 2003 to 2006, said he had been directed to cooperate fully with the city on the rail system jointly proposed by Lingle and former Mayor Jeremy Harris in 2003.

"We all came out, as I recall, and endorsed rail. I'm quite disappointed that we've gone the other way," Haraga said.

James Kumagai, state deputy director for environmental health from 1975 to 1980 under former Gov. George Ariyoshi, said rail transit has long been viewed by health experts as a way to limit vehicle emissions.

The link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming has greatly broadened rail's appeal from a health perspective nationally and internationally, he said.

"Mass transit and rail systems are the most efficient environmental solution," Kumagai said.

Hayashida, state transportation director from 1994 to 2000 under former Gov. Ben Cayetano, said there is no room to build more freeway capacity into Downtown Honolulu from West O'ahu, where most new development is taking place.

"The streets cannot take additional traffic," Hayashida said. "The rail is the way to go as an alternative."