H-1 homeless camp being cleared again
State workers picked up trash, debris and other items under the Nimitz underpass yesterday along Nimitz Highway near Keehi Lagoon. The state, armed with bulldozers and pitchforks, was evicting residents who had been dwelling under the concrete overpass of H-1 freeway and Nimitz Highway in an effort to clean the area of debris and flotsam.
A woman who did not want to be identified walked along Nimitz Highway with her belongings yesterday after she was forced to leave the area in which she and other homeless had been living. In the background, state workers cleared rubbish from the area.
State workers, armed with bulldozers and pitchforks, evicted homeless yesterday who had been living under the concrete overpass of the H-1 freeway and Nimitz Highway in an effort to clean the area of debris.
State workers are again cleaning up a homeless campsite under the airport viaduct of the H-1 freeway near Nimitz Highway.
The cleanup near Keehi Lagoon began at 8:30 a.m. yesterday and is expected to last through tomorrow because of the tons of material at the homeless camp, said state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tammy Mori.
About a month ago, state sheriffs warned the 30 to 40 people living there illegally that the area was being cleaned up, Mori said.
Last week, those who remained were given written eviction notices, she added.
No arrests were made yesterday, Mori said.
About 40 state workers and 40 inmates from the Oahu Community Correctional Center were involved in the cleanup, she said.
In January 2009 the state Transportation Department hauled away 108 truckloads of trash; 12 loads of metal; one load of batteries; 16 gallons of hazardous materials such as paint, propane and paint thinner; and 38 tires during an operation that took a week and a half.
The state even tried to keep out the illegal campers by unsuccessfully trying to fence off the area.
Two years earlier, police recovered in the area an abandoned car with several coils of copper wiring believed to have been stolen from Campbell High School’s football field.
