Department of Transportation

Nightly Full Closures Start at 8 p.m. Single Lane Access Available From 5 a.m.

 

HONOLULU – Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) is notifying highway users that both lanes of Kamehameha Highway at Waimea Bay will be closed for approximately 600 feet, halfway between the Waimea Bay parking lot and ‘Iliohu Way, nightly from 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 18 until interim slope stabilization is complete.

The full closure, in addition to the daytime single lane closure will help accelerate the interim stabilization, which is expected to take two weeks.
The closure schedule for all days of the week, including the weekend, will be:

• Full closure of Kamehameha Highway between ‘Iliohu Way and the Waimea Bay parking lot from 8 p.m. to 4:59 a.m. the following day.
• The mauka/northbound lane of Kamehameha Highway will reopen with alternating traffic control (contraflow) from 5 a.m. to 7:59 p.m.

Pedestrians will be allowed through the closure but are advised to use caution.

HDOT is taking these actions to protect the road as the surface of the slope continues to slough due to heavy rains vegetation stripped by the Kona low. In addition to the interim stabilization work, HDOT engineers are designing the long-term stabilization system of a concrete face, anchored with tensioned steel rods drilled 50-to-60 feet into the slope. The concrete facing will be textured and stained to blend with the hillside.

The permanent electronic message boards in Waikele, Ka‘amilo, Pu‘uloa and Liliha will be activated for the full closure to alert drivers to take the alternate routes:

• Going from west/central O‘ahu to Ko‘olauloa: Take H-3/Likelike Highway to Kamehameha Highway through Kāne‘ohe, Ka‘a‘awa and Lā‘ie.
• Going from Kahuku/Lā‘ie side to Hale‘iwa: Take H-3/Likelike toward Honolulu then the H-1 west and H-2 north to get to Kamehameha through Wahiawā.

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