Highways

LIHUE – The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) will begin daytime closures on Kuhio Highway between Kuamoo Road and the Temporary Kapaa Bypass Road for the Kuhio Highway Short-Term Improvements project on Monday, Oct. 31.

The previously scheduled daywork schedule was adjusted from Oct. 17 to Oct. 24 to provide additional time for highway users to prepare. The schedule for the week of Oct. 24 was impacted because of an equipment issue at the Contractor’s asphalt plant.

On Monday, Oct. 31, and Tuesday, Nov. 1, two northbound lanes of Kuhio Highway between Kuamoo Road and Haleilio Road will be closed between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The southbound lanes of Kuhio Highway will be coned to allow travel for one lane in each direction.

For the remainder of the week (Nov. 2-4), northbound traffic will be detoured to Papaloa Road.

The intersections within the project limits, including Haleilio Road, Papaloa Road, and Lanikai Street, may be modified. Flaggers will be present and the construction speed limit within the work zone is 25 mph.

Descriptions of the three northbound phases and two southbound phases for the daywork follows:

• Northbound Phase 1 (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1) – Northbound lanes of Kuhio Highway between Kuamoo Road and Haleilio Road will be closed. One southbound lane will be contraflowed for drivers heading north. All northbound vehicles from Kuamoo and Haleilio shall be detoured south to Wailua Bridge and merge with the northbound traffic
• Northbound Phase 2 (Nov. 2-4, and TBD) – Northbound traffic will be detoured to Papaloa Road (single lane road). Drivers heading to Haleilio Road will be detoured via Papaloa Road and Lanikai Street and Kuhio Highway. Lanikai Street will be contraflowed and Papaloa Road south/west bound will be local traffic only between Lanikai Street and the southern intersection with Kuhio Highway. All northbound vehicles from Kuamoo and Haleilio shall be detoured south to Wailua Bridge and merge with the northbound traffic
• Northbound Phase 3 (TBD) – Northbound Kuhio Highway and Haleilio Road detour will remain the same as Phase 2. Papaloa Road south/west bound will be local traffic only between Lanikai Street and the southern intersection with Kuhio Highway. Lanikai Street will be restored to two lanes. All northbound vehicles from Kuamoo and Haleilio shall be detoured south to Wailua Bridge and merge with the northbound traffic
• Southbound Phase 1 (TBD) – Southbound traffic between Haleilio Road and Kuamoo Road will be contraflowed in one of the northbound lanes on Kuhio Highway. Papaloa Road south/west bound will be local traffic only between Lanikai Street and the southern intersection with Kuhio Highway. Haleilio Road and Kuamoo Road connections to Kuhio Highway will be modified. All northbound vehicles from Kuamoo and Haleilio shall be detoured south to Wailua Bridge and merge with the northbound traffic
• Southbound Phase 2 (TBD) – Southbound traffic between Haleilio Road and Kapaa Bypass will be contraflowed in one of the northbound lanes on Kuhio Highway. Northbound traffic will be detoured to Papaloa Road (single lane road). Drivers heading to Haleilio Road will be detoured via Papaloa Road and Lanikai Street and Kuhio Highway. Papaloa Road south/west bound will be local traffic only between Lanikai Street and the southern intersection with Kuhio Highway. Work will take place on the other half of the Haleilio Road and Kapaa Bypass connections to Kuhio Highway.  All northbound vehicles from Kuamoo and Haleilio shall be detoured south to Wailua Bridge and merge with the northbound traffic

The Kuhio Highway southbound contraflow between the Kapaa Temporary Bypass Road and Kapule Highway will be setup with the first cone down at 4:15 a.m. as normal. When daywork begins at 8 a.m., the contraflow lane will be picked up between the Temporary Kapaa Bypass and Wailua Bridge. Contraflow south of the bridge will be picked up at the scheduled time of 11 a.m. Monday through Friday. There will be no change to the Saturday contraflow hours.

HDOT will resume night work when the seabird fledgling season ends Dec. 15.

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