LIHUE — Here’s the good news: The Hawaii Department of Transportation is shifting more resources toward emergency slope stabilization on Kuhio Highway at mile marker 1, the hill approaching Hanalei Bridge.
Here’s the bad news: The reopening of Kuhio Highway to general traffic beyond Hanalei has been pushed back again, this time from the week of May 20 to the target date of June 13.
Ed Sniffen, HDOT deputy director of transportation in charge of highways, said the priority must be on completing the slope stabilization. Until then, the Lihue-bound lane will remain closed, thus creating hour-long traffic delays in both directions.
For now, it can’t be helped for safety reasons, Sniffen said.
“The way we’re looking at it, the storms we’re getting are more severe and coming more often,” he said Friday in a phone interview with TGI.
As a result of shifting resources to this project, “HDOT is targeting
Thursday, June 13 for the full opening of Kuhio Highway past Waipa Bridge.”
Sniffen said during the floods last year, debris came from the slopes above Kuhio Highway. It was cleared up and slope repair work was done.
While the area had looked good since then, Sniffen said last week’s heavy rains brought down more materials and created such significant drainage concerns that state officials determined it wasn’t safe to keep two lanes of traffic flowing.
HDOT must make sure the slope is clear, stable, and loose material removed. It will use an anchor wire mesh on top of the slope as well.
“We want to set it up so we don’t have to worry about this issue in the future,” Sniffen said.
HDOT said the project could take four to five months in a Thursday press release, but Sniffen said that is a “worse-case scenario.”
“We’re hoping we can get it done sooner,” he said.
So are Hanalei business owners.
Vehicle flow has been restricted to one lane, 24 hours a day, through the work zone since Saturday’s rock slide. That has backed up traffic, with lines of cars and trucks snaking back into Hanalei on one side and up into Princeville on the other.
Business leaders fear the lane restriction will devastate Hanalei businesses, as visitors will likely avoid the area rather than spend an extra hour stuck in traffic coming and going.
Already, shops and restaurants in Hanalei have noticed a slowdown in sales and reduced customer count.
And it comes at a bad time — the critical summer season, which is when many business turn enough profit to sustain them through the slow seasons.
County officials are concerned, and pledging to do what they can.
“This is a devastating setback to a community that’s already been hit hard,” said Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami in a written statement. “We understand the inconveniences and hardships that North Shore residents and businesses are suffering from, and we will do everything we can to assist state DOT as they work to repair the affected area of the highway as quickly as possible.’
Kauai Chamber of Commerce President Mark Perriello agreed Hanalei businesses will take a hit and hopes a solution can be found.
“Maintaining access to Haena and Hanalei for our residents and visitors is an important task,” said Gov. David Ige. “We are grateful for the $77 million in federal assistance to rebuild the road following the April 2018 floods and are confident that the finished product will be safe and resilient to future events.”
Unfortunately, traffic delays will likely get worse before getting better.
During the slope stabilization, there will be intermittent closure of the road in both directions for 30-45-minute periods during rock-scaling operations. To mitigate delays to the public, crews will do the scaling at the top of the hour and will flush traffic in both directions with flagmen. These stoppages are expected on May 14 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Additional rock-scaling work may be needed after May 14.
Haena State Park, Haena Beach Park and the Limahuli Garden and Preserve all remain closed.
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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.
