Motorists using the H-1 freeway in town after work and overnight can expect a year’s worth of increased traffic delays starting this fall as state transportation officials tackle what they say are much-needed repairs on the Oahu’s busiest highway.
In September, construction will start on what’s dubbed the H-1 Rehabilitation Project, an effort to fix and repave a 3.5-mile stretch between Ward Avenue and Middle Street.
The work will be done between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. starting Sunday nights through Friday mornings with construction crews shutting down the highway in one direction at a time for up to 120 nights, state Department of Transportation officials say. The work will also mean partial lane closings nightly and construction noise for those living along the freeway corridor during the yearlong effort.
"There is no good time in doing this much-needed work," Transportation Director Glenn Okimoto said at a news conference Thursday.
State officials have put off the work in the past because of the huge inconvenience it would likely create for commuters, state Highways Administrator Alvin Takeshita said.
Transportation officials say they are working with city officials to time the traffic lights on surface roads such as School, Beretania and King streets so they can serve as alternative routes. Even so, state officials acknowledge those aren’t ideal.
"Because we live in an island state, traffic is already heavy and the alternative routes are few," Okimoto said. "This is going to tax all of us."
Okimoto added that transportation officials have already consulted time-pressed motorists, ranging from emergency personnel to hotel and tourist groups whose guests use the freeway to get to Honolulu Airport, so they are aware of the upcoming delays. "We’ve been trying to get the word out," he said.
The work in town will also coincide with H-1 traffic further west from the state’s continuing "PM Contraflow" project — highway deck repairs in the Aiea and Pearl City areas that have commuters facing lane closures there from 7:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. That schedule is expected to last through April, state officials said.
The in-town rehabilitation project will repave an asphalt-concrete layer about 12 inches deep along that H-1 stretch with a material that’s stronger than typical asphalt. Designed to last 10-15 years, instead of the seven-10 years of typical asphalt, the asphalt-concrete is expected to better handle the more than 200,000 vehicles that use the corridor each day, said Jadine Urasaki, deputy director for capital projects.
The $42 million project, paid for mostly with federal dollars, will also reconfigure H-1 to four lanes in both directions from Punahou Street to Middle Street. In addition, it will replace existing highway lights with modern models that better contain the light to the highway, which will be less distracting to migrating birds, officials said.
Okimoto said the H-1 work is part of a department plan to repave the major highways on Oahu during the next two years. The group also aims to start repaving Kalanianaole Highway from Ainakoa Avenue to Hanauma Bay early next year, and Kamehameha Highway through Mililani roughly from Waipio to Wahiawa.
The state recently completed a temporary repaving project along parts of Pali Highway, but in the next year or so, it plans to do more extensive repaving.
"We have a bigger picture; we’re trying to repave all of the roads on Oahu, all of the major roads," Okimoto said.
