Tuesday’s carmageddon cost residents an estimated $1 million in lost time and gas, rendered cabdrivers and delivery trucks motionless, caused travelers to miss flights, and had caregivers working overtime when family members couldn’t arrive to take their keiki or kupuna home.

On the upside, downtown bars and restaurants were flooded with hungry patrons hoping to sit out the worst of the traffic mess and gas stations will benefit from all the dry tanks.

The economic loss of more than 75,000 vehicles carrying more than 100,000 people stuck in an hourslong traffic jam was estimated by Panos Prevedouros, professor and chairman of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Hawaii.

Prevedouros, a former mayoral candidate, calculated the loss based on a typical one-hour trip growing to four or more hours, and using the minimum wage and current cost of gas to value the time and energy wasted.

"Obviously it’s disruptive to people’s schedules so it’s a waste of time and money," added UH economist Carl Bonham. "At the end of the day, it’s really wasted time when people could’ve been doing something productive."

The severe congestion that started around 2 p.m. delayed deliveries, while some flights were missed.

"Some people arrived home so late that they were planning to call in sick the next day — that’s another loss," Prevedouros added. "Every major event has both positives and negatives. Yesterday’s horrendous congestion was no exception."

Many bus drivers gained extra overtime, some taxi drivers had some large fares and many restaurants in town had an unusually busy Tuesday dinner business, Prevedouros said.

"Of course, idling for hours makes drivers fume and it is highly polluting, but empty tanks is more business for gas stations," he said.

Murphy’s Bar and Grill downtown saw a 60 percent boost in sales Tuesday, while business at Ferguson’s Pub was double a normal weeknight, said owner Don Murphy.

"Business was incredible," Murphy said. "The bar actually sold more food than it did liquor, which is very unusual. It was quite a mess, but it was great for the bars and restaurants."

Business at the Row Bar at Waterfront Plaza, also known as Restaurant Row, was up at least three times a normal weekday, said Cassy Orr, a bartender and waitress at the outdoor pub that stayed open an extra hour to accommodate customers.

"It was super crazy. We were selling out of beer," she said. "We didn’t know that was going to happen so we didn’t prepare."

Some West Oahu residents were wishing they had stopped at a restaurant instead of trying to make it home.

Mililani resident Dave Kaneshiro, 46, left his Waikiki hotel job at 3:15 p.m. to pick up his wife, Karen, downtown to try to get into the ZipperLane ahead of the crowd.

He ended up getting trapped on Nimitz Highway and didn’t make it home until after midnight.

"It wasn’t even really a crawl. People were shutting off their engines," Kaneshiro said. "By then you’re so trapped in by everybody else, there’s really no room to maneuver. Unfortunately, before we even got to the freeway, it was about seven hours just on Nimitz Highway. When we finally got to the entrance of the ZipLane off Nimitz, it was already 11:30 p.m. I could’ve flown to Vegas and taken in a show in that time."

Chelsea Keehne, a school improvement specialist at Kamehameha Schools, missed her 7 p.m. flight to Hilo to conduct charter school visits.

"It took me three hours to get from Restaurant Row to River Street," she said, adding that her original flight was 4:30 p.m. She ended up flying out Wednesday morning at 7 a.m.

"My boss who lives in Hilo missed her flight and had to extend her rental car and stay at the Ala Moana Hotel," Keehne said. "I’m a townie and I don’t deal with traffic. I’m not accustomed to moving one mile in three hours."

Dale Evans, president of Charley’s Taxi, said the business was overwhelmed as drivers were stuck in traffic from early in the morning until about midnight.

"The average time was two to three hours and that was terrible," Evans said, adding that it caused significant delays in customer pickup times. "Traffic was backed up all the way from Kahala Mall. They couldn’t believe it. This was a real biggie. People were sitting ducks."

Evans didn’t know the average charge for customers stuck in traffic Tuesday, but said the rate is about $36 an hour when not moving.

"That’s assuming there’s a customer in the car. When they’re empty they’re not going to get paid," she said of her 260 drivers. "They make money on turnover or volume. They don’t want to be stuck in traffic."

Peter Kim, owner of Liliha Bakery and other local eateries, said the traffic jam actually hurt business at his restaurants, including those at Ala Moana Center, where he operates Yummy Korean BBQ, Lahaina Chicken Co., Mama’s Spaghetti House, and Steak and Fish Co.

"I thought we were going to do more business because traffic backed up. Nimitz Highway didn’t get the share of the business that I anticipated," Kim said. "Ideally, you’re thinking people are going to take a break to go eat and let traffic die. It surprised the heck out of me."

Ann Botticelli, spokeswoman for Hawaiian Airlines, said the company had one flight from Honolulu to Maui that was 17 minutes late because the crew was not there on time. There were also eight people who didn’t show up for a flight to Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, but they were all accommodated Wednesday.

Tracie Romualdo, a director at Seagull Schools at Kapolei and Seagull Schools adult day center, said there were about three children who stayed at the preschool past its 6 p.m. closing. In its adult day-care program on the same campus, there were six clients who were there past the 5 p.m. closing time. At least two adults stayed more than two hours past closing.

"It’s really stressful for caregivers," she said. "One gentlemen was stuck by the stadium and said it had taken an hour to get from Nimitz to the stadium."

Romualdo said the company decided to waive any late fees, which is typically $10 for every 15 minutes after hours.

Some nimble businesses were trying to help out during the traffic problems.

"It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced as a driver in Hawaii. It was honestly the worst I’ve ever been in," said Kaneshiro, the Mililani resident. "If a business that made this decision had been a private business, you would have jobs on the line already. There would have been some drastic measures taken, some consequences. It was really bad. The backup planning, execution and contingency plan just didn’t seem to be there. I think nightmarish is too kind of a word."