Weekend H-1 lane closures to be delayed

With Halloween and University of Hawaii game traffic expected to be heavy this weekend, transportation officials have agreed to push back lane closures related to rail construction.

Rail work crews had originally intended to close up to four westbound H-1 lanes from the Kaahumanu overpass to Waiawa Road starting 8 p.m. today. However, the rail agency has agreed to start those closures, as well as closures on Kamehameha Highway, at 11 p.m. instead or whenever traffic clears, according to a Department of Transportation news release.

The goal, according to the DOT release, is to make the weekend traffic “less scary.”

The closures will start later due to the football game between UH and the University of New Mexico, the Oahu Interscholastic Association championship football games and various Halloween activities around the island, it stated.

Officials will monitor traffic Monday, and closure times could be adjusted to help keep the freeway traffic flowing.

In past years, accidents and people leaving work early to get home in time for trick-or-treating have created major traffic jams on Halloween.

KAUAI

Roommate pleads not guilty

A 57-year-old Kapaa man has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder after he allegedly shot his roommate.

Jeffrey S. Simpson made his initial court appearance in District Court on Wednesday. He’s charged with second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree reckless endangering and carrying or use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony.

Simpson has posted his $53,000 bail. Trial is set for March 6.

The shooting occurred Oct. 9 at a home on Kamalu Road. Officers found a 52-year-old man lying on the floor in his bedroom with gunshot wounds to his face and chest. The victim was transported to Wilcox Medical Center and flown to the Queen’s Medical Center in serious but stable condition.

Simpson lives at the home with the 52-year-old man and other roommates.

HAWAII ISLAND

Tips on SUV at crash sought

Hawaii Island police have reclassified a traffic-related fatality case to a negligent-homicide investigation after new information surfaced.

Breanna Fujimoto, 20, of Kealakekua died Sept. 4, a day after she was involved in a collision on Hawaii Belt Road. During the initial investigation, police said Fujimoto was traveling south on the roadway in a 2016 Honda sedan when she crossed the centerline and hit a 2015 Nissan SUV head-on, just south of the Kamehameha III Highway intersection.

Fujimoto was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where she died from her injuries.

Detectives have since learned that a green Subaru or Isuzu sports utility vehicle may have caused Fujimoto to cross the centerline just before the collision with the Nissan SUV. Police said the green SUV left the scene.

Anyone who witnessed the crash or the green SUV leaving the scene is asked to call Officer Justin Hooser at 326-4646 or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300.