Power line repair will close H-1 in Kapolei on Sunday

The H-1 freeway will close in both directions in Kapolei on Sunday morning so that utility crews can replace a high-voltage power line that fell during last weekend’s windstorm, according to Hawaiian Electric Co. officials.

The closure will take place from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday between the Kualakai Parkway and Kamokila Boulevard interchanges, according to a HECO news release. The freeway will open earlier if crews finish ahead of schedule.

Last weekend’s wind gusts felled two polls holding the 46-kilovolt line over the roadway, said Jim Kelly, HECO’s vice president for corporate relations.

“From what I know, it was not energized at the time it came down. It may have hit some cars or some cars hit it,” Kelly said Thursday. The line provides power to construction-aggregate company Grace Pacific’s quarry, and no other power customers were affected, he added.

The line needs to be replaced because the Honolulu Fire Department crews that responded on Saturday severed it, Kelly said.

When the responders arrived at the scene several motorists who had stopped their vehicles were trying to pull the line off the roadway, according to HFD Capt. Kevin Mokulehua. The fire crews concluded the line wasn’t energized and was safe to cut, he said.

“Luckily, there weren’t any injuries,” Mokulehua added.

During Sunday’s full closure, drivers will still be able to get across that West Oahu stretch via detours onto Kualakai Parkway and Farrington Highway. Nonetheless, they should plan ahead, expect delays and consider postponing travel until the work is done, HECO officials said. The company will provide live updates on the work via its Facebook page, the release stated.

The release added that working in daylight hours will allow the utility to complete the work more quickly than if it had been scheduled at night.

“We apologize for the inconvenience to the community,” HECO Senior Vice President for Operations Ron Cox said in a statement. “We know there’s no good time to close the freeway but we worked with the Department of Transportation to choose a time that we hoped would be the least disruptive.”