Department of Transportation

HONOLULU – The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) announces the Zipper Lane and Nimitz Highway express lane will be open and available for use on the Statehood holiday, August 18, 2017. HDOT is opening the Zipper lane and the associated Nimitz Highway express lane on Statehood Day as a pilot project to examine potential benefits of opening the Zipper Lane on certain state holidays.

“This test case will allow us to determine whether opening of the Zipper Lane during state holidays will improve quality of life for Oahu commuters,” said Hawaii Department of Transportation Director Ford Fuchigami. “The goal is to get commuters working on the state holiday to work efficiently and to allow those travelling to be with family and friends on the holiday to use our improved facilities.”

The Zipper Lane hours are from 5:30 – 9 a.m. weekdays and certain holidays for vehicles with two or more occupants, vehicles with the electric vehicle license plate and motorcycles.

The Nimitz Highway express lane will be open for its regular hours from 5:30 – 9 a.m.

Last summer HDOT added a second Zipper Lane from the H1/H2 merge to the Pearl Harbor area, which increased usage 20 percent and reduced the amount of vehicles in the single occupancy lanes.

The other contraflow operations and shoulder lanes in the state will not be activated for the holiday. The other High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes will be open for single occupancy vehicles on the holiday.