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Public officials and taxpayers are in a lather over new estimates that the rail project could end up costing as much as $8.1 billion. But even as the entire project is being second-guessed, construction workers keep their focus on the job at hand Friday near the Leeward Community Campus parking lot.

There’s talk of shortening the route, but there’s a permanency to the look of the already constructed guideway near Acacia Street in Pearl City.

West Oahu drivers have long since gotten used to the detours and delays related to a rail project designed to eventually decongest traffic.

The guideway has a decidedly less-finished look near the Kamehameha Highway and Pali Momi Street.

Concrete forms for the rail guideway columns are prepared near Kamehameha Highway and the Pearlridge Shopping Center.

Workers wrestle with rebar near Kamehameha Highway and Pali Momi Street.

The guideway continues to take shape near Kaonohi Street in Pearl City.

It’s still a long way, construction-wise and otherwise, to the rail route’s intended eastern terminus at Ala Moana Shopping Center.