HONOLULU — Honolulu Civil Beat reports that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has given Honolulu’s troubled rail project until the end of April to submit a plan for how it plans to bridge a shortfall likely to approach $2 billion.

In a letter, the FTA denied the City of Honolulu’s request to extend the deadline for the so-called recovery plan until the end of June. At the same time, the FTA did not hold the city to the original deadline of the end of this month, which would have been difficult to meet.

In September, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation sent the FTA an interim recovery plan that officials hoped would buy time to develop a full-blown alternative. Last week, HART revealed that the cost of the project, under one scenario, could reach $9.5 billion. For the full story, click here.