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Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay was closed for a second day on Wednesday to finish repairs after a truck knocked down utility poles a day earlier.
Hawaiian Telcom spokeswoman Ann Nishida Fry said crews needed to close the road Wednesday night to run cables across and reconnect them to three poles. She said crews had to wait until Hawaiian Electric Co. repaired the poles and then postponed the work to avoid affecting traffic during the day.
The Department of Transportation said both lanes of Kamehameha were open until 8 p.m. Wednesday, then traffic was to be contra-flowed until 10 p.m. The highway was scheduled to close from 10 p.m. to midnight Wednesday and then be contra-flowed from midnight to 3 a.m. Thursday. Both lanes were to be open after 3 a.m.
Kamehameha was closed in both directions most of Tuesday after a truck damaged three utility poles along the highway at about 8 a.m. on the Waialua side of Waimea Bay. No injuries were reported.
Some 260 residents lost power in the incident, said Darren Pai, HECO spokesman.
HECO rerouted customers to a backup generator and restored power in about an hour. But repairs to the poles were initially delayed to clean up a fuel spill from the crash. Then crews digging holes to replace two poles found the ground to be solid rock, creating additional slowdowns, Pai said.
Police opened part of the road for a few hours Tuesday night.
HECO crews finished repairs and were off the road by 5 a.m. Wednesday, Pai said. He added that crews worked as quickly as they could to reopen the roadway.
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