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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Traffic flowed freely onto Kalanianole Hwy this morning after eastbound lanes were reopened following a large water main break.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Traffic flowed freely onto Kalanianole Hwy this morning after eastbound lanes were reopened following a large water main break.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Eastbound traffic along Kalanianaole Highway was heavy and slow-going late into Monday evening in east Honolulu. All eastbound lanes at Kalanianaole Highway where it meets the H-1 freeway are now open.
All eastbound lanes of Kalanianaole Highway where it meets the H-1 freeway are now open after Honolulu Board of Water Supply crews completed repairs to a broken water main.
Honolulu police issued a bulletin shortly after 4:20 a.m. today notifying the public of the reopening of all lanes, four days after a 24-inch water main ruptured just before the intersection of the highway and Waikui Street.
The broken transmission line caused gridlock as crews worked around the clock to repair it.
Officials opened one lane Saturday night and two narrow lanes by Monday afternoon to ease congestion during peak afternoon traffic. Measures were put in place to alleviate congestion that includes adjustments to traffic lights and installing message boards to alert the public of the road work.
Crews backfilled the gaping trench and repaved the area after completing repairs early Tuesday to the water main located 20 feet below the roadway’s surface.
The water main made of cast iron pipe encased in a “concrete jacket” was installed in 1969. Crews used a ductile iron pipe to replace the broken section of the water main.
The Board of Water Supply faced an obstacle during repairs after encountering an abandoned line that was located almost on top of the transmission line. Crews cut a section of the abandoned line to access the broken water main.
HPD was way too slow to get hold of the traffic redirection and control. hence, we had that Saturday fiasco. But give BOW credit for doing a solid job under difficult circumstances.
Long time Kama’aina will remember well September 5th, 2006, when the six lanes of Ewa-bound H-1 freeway were shut down due to an Army hauled excavator hitting the Aiea pedestrian overpass. Traffic ground to a halt, people had to get off of stuck buses to relieve themselves, cars ran out of gas, people drove around the island to get home.
Kamehameha Hwy became gridlocked due to the willful failure of HPD & DOT to work together and make this an efficient bypass road. Basically DOT workers watched the traffic cams, saying “Wow!!! Look at all the traffic. Somebody should do something about it.” Totally useless.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jul/29/ln/hawaii707290359.html
HPD, DOT and all our elected bureaucrats stood in front of the cameras, promised us this experience would lead them all to do a better job of managing traffic in case of another road emergency.
Fast forward to this most recent road problem and we find little to nothing was learned from earlier events, same ole, same ole.
Just another day in the little, backwater, 20th world of Hawaii Nei.
Good job by the BWS crew! Now, the scary thing is that most of our underground water pipes and sewer lines are old, so unfortunately, more or these events will occur. Even in our neighborhood which came up in 1992, we already had a water main break in 2015. It wasn’t that big, but it did close down a street for a day.