Lane closures coming to North Shore

PRINCEVILLE — North Shore drivers should allow more time for commuting starting Monday as Hawaii Department of Transportation has scheduled annual vegetation trimming work that will reduce traffic to a single lane intermittently between Princeville Shopping Center and the Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant &Fish Market for the week.

“The roving closures will allow the use of heavy machinery for annual vegetation overgrowth trimming,” HDOT staff said in a news release. “HDOT has scheduled this work in July to complete it prior to the start of the school year.”

The roving, single-lane closures will be daily between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Traffic will be alternated in the available lane through the roving closures, which will begin from the Princeville Shopping Center to the vicinity of the Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant &Fish Market, weather permitting. The length of the closures for the roving work will be kept between 500 to 750 feet to minimize impact to motorists.

Meanwhile, HDOT continues work on Kuhio Highway north of Hanalei and is allowing limited access to the communities of Wainiha and Haena on Kauai’s North Shore for local residents only.

The schedule shows a list of trips past Hanalei online at hidot.hawaii.gov, with trips scheduled from 6 a.m. through 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 7 a.m. through 11 p.m. on Sunday. Visit the website for more specific details on convoy times.

That schedule is expected to change when work on the 3W bridges starts.

“HDOT is examining current convoy usage to ensure that we provide as much access to the community as possible while keeping the construction area safe and efficient. No changes to the convoy schedule have been confirmed at this time,” staff members said in a July 18 statement.

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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.