Drivers in Nanakuli saw their weekend plans grind to a halt Saturday when road crews unexpectedly closed one Farrington Highway lane for maintenance. They’ll get a reprieve this weekend, however, now that state officials have opted not to resume that work this weekend.
The state Department of Transportation apologized Tuesday for not giving advance warning of the work, in which crews removed vegetation from the makai side of the highway. They were trying to catch up on maintenance after heavy surf required them to work elsewhere the previous week, according to a DOT news release.
“One of my constituents called me this morning — he almost missed his own wedding,” Rep. Andria Tupola (R, Kalaeloa-Ko Olina-Maili) said Tuesday. “People missed their flight, people missed their doctor appointments.”
She said the work affected thousands of people on the Leeward Coast. “On a Saturday when there’s this many people moving around on the coast … who was not thinking when they planned this?” Tupola said.
Traffic backed up for several miles and by some estimates delayed town-bound commutes by an hour and a half through Waianae.
The DOT’s portable electronic message boards on the side of the road had previously told drivers that the work would resume Saturday. But that’s no longer the case, and the DOT is removing those boards, spokesman Tim Sakahara said.
The DOT hasn’t yet determined when the highway work slated for Nanakuli will resume. “Night hours may not be available … due to limitations with the permitting process and environmental regulations,” its statement read.
Traffic congestion is often an emotional issue on the Leeward Coast, where many residents strongly believe officials could take practical steps to shorten their commutes despite the state’s limited resources, said W. Ken Koike, a Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board member.
Saturday’s incident “is just adding insult to injury,” Koike said Tuesday. “We are just trying our best to convey the urgency of the situation and the critical need for support.”
“We’re tired of having our own community yell at us. We’re as tired as they are,” Koike said, referring to the neighborhood board meetings. “We would like the officials to be there to understand how disappointed our community is at the current state of affairs.”
Tupola said a maintenance foreman at the scene Saturday told her the work was being done on behalf of bicycle lanes, but Sakahara said the work had nothing to do with that.
