The city's plans for a mass-transit system cleared another hurdle yesterday when a joint city-state transportation panel agreed with the proposed first segment, from East Kapolei to Ala Moana.

The 11-to-1 vote by the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization's policy committee clears the way for federally supported engineering and environmental studies on the project.

But the decision does not necessarily support a controversial path along Salt Lake Boulevard instead of one that connects with Honolulu International Airport and Pearl Harbor, which Mayor Mufi Hannemann had initially proposed.

The vote amended the island's regional transportation plan to include the project's path in general terms, without specifying the exact alignment.

The City Council narrowly voted in February for the Salt Lake path instead of a link to the airport and harbor, in order to secure a swing vote from Councilman Romy Cachola, who represents the Salt Lake area.

An environmental study will examine both routes, and the council could be asked to reconsider its choice if the airport path proves more feasible, said chief city transit planner Toru Hamayasu.

City Councilman Charles Djou, who cast the only dissenting vote yesterday, complained that the project will be ineffective if it does not serve the airport, Pearl Harbor and the University of Hawai'i's Manoa campus.

But Councilman Todd Apo said a link to UH is not financially feasible for the system's first segment and should be added later. The airport and Pearl Harbor link should still be considered, however, he said.

Two other council members who had pushed for an immediate link to UH, Donovan Dela Cruz and Ann Kobayashi, were removed from the panel two weeks ago as a result of a council leadership dispute.

The shuffle raised concerns that the two were ousted to prevent them from pushing for the UH route. But their votes would have made no difference yesterday, unless they could have persuaded four others on the transit panel to join them.