Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
The Honolulu-bound lane of Farrington Highway through Ewa was reopened — for the time being — by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which has resumed construction of the city’s rail system.
The section is between Kualakai Parkway (formerly North-South Road) and Old Fort Weaver Road Loop.
The Kapolei-bound, or westbound, lane of Farrington in that area will remain closed 24 hours a day.
Farrington was shut down in both directions in the area earlier this month when the city restarted construction of the city’s $5.26 billion rail project.
But relocation of a major waterline and other work along the narrow, two-lane road no longer requires the Honolulu-bound side to be closed, and "we’ve been getting concerns from motorists that the (eastbound) closure has been contributing to the backup in the morning," HART spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.
He emphasized that the eastbound reopening is only temporary.
In the next few months, contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. will close the lane around the clock again for drill shaft and column construction as part of the rail line’s guideway, he said.
The shutdown then will likely run through spring, Ishikawa said.