Hawaii airport opens $340M facility for car rental companies
KAHULUI, Maui (AP) — A Hawaii airport has opened a $340 million facility for car rental companies, officials said.
The Kahului Airport Consolidated Rent-A-Car facility is the largest single public works project on Maui.
The facility that opened Wednesday houses all major rental car companies in one spot and connects passengers with the airport via electric tram. The project took three years to complete, was environmentally friendly and created hundreds of local jobs, officials said.
The project will help save energy costs, reduce waste and increase indoor air quality, the state Department of Transportation said.
Democratic Gov. David Ige visited the site Tuesday and said the project was “funded with no taxpayer dollars involved.”
Funding came from a state facility charge and a daily $4.50 payment by rental car customers, officials said.
The airport’s new tram will relieve congestion by eliminating 25 customer shuttle buses making an average of 85 trips per hour.
“The public will no longer be directed to scattered facilities around the airport,” said Robert Hunsinger, Enterprise Holdings’ director of airport relations and properties.
A similar facility is scheduled for 2021 completion at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Ige said.
Columbia University to produce Obama presidency oral history
CHICAGO (AP) — Columbia University Libraries in New York will produce the official oral history of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Obama Foundation officials announced Thursday that the project at The Columbia Center for Oral History Research will provide a record of the decisions, actions and effects of Obama’s presidency. The former president is a graduate of Columbia University, which also is home to the oral history of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency. The Obama project also will include former first lady Michelle Obama’s legacy.
The University of Hawaii and the University of Chicago will partner on the effort, focusing respectively on Obama’s early years in Hawaii and the Obamas’ lives in Chicago.
Columbia University officials say the Obamas’ histories are expected to be publicly available online no later than 2026.