Workers’ commute is worst blow of Pali shutdown, Kailua merchants say

The closure of Pali Highway due to multiple landslides is affecting foot traffic for some Kailua businesses, but mostly it’s an inconvenience for those who live and work in the area.

“We’ve had a lot less tourists come through. For the most part, we haven’t seen as many tourist buses or tourists in general,” said Shelby Mitchell, a manager at SoHa Living in Kailua, adding that the decrease in traffic, however, “hasn’t really impacted sales too much.”

Mitchell said she feels the impact in another way.

“I live in town, so I have to deal with the commute. I know it’s difficult because it takes pretty much an hour each way now” as opposed to half an hour, she said.

That’s why the state Department of Transportation reopened the Pali to one-way traffic from 5 to 9 a.m., helping to ease morning traffic to Honolulu.

“The contra-flow this morning went really, really well,” said DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara on Thursday. “All morning I was getting texts and calls from people saying thank you. It definitely made a huge difference in the morning commute for people. Traffic flowed very smoothly not only on the Pali, but the Likelike and H-3 as well.”

The DOT, which expects the shutdown to last months as state crews fortify the unstable slopes near the Pali Highway tunnels, is also opening the contra-flow lane in the afternoon from 3 to 7 p.m. for Windward-bound traffic only.

“People are going to be upset,” said Michaela Kemna, a personal stylist at Fighting Eel in Kailua, of the months-long closure. “People from Kailua this side go through Hawaii Kai to town instead of going through the Pali now. Traffic’s awful in Hawaii Kai.”

“It’s definitely an inconvenience for anyone who has to work here or lives on this side,” added Fighting Eel employee Emi Santiago. “I don’t think anyone is going to go out of the way to come down here.”

Nadia Ribeiro, owner of swimsuit shop Brazilian Show Room, said it took her almost two hours to get to Kailua from her Kahala home in the early afternoon. She said the highway shutdown is “worrisome.”

“Whoever needs to come to Kailua, they’re not going to come because of that,” she said.

Greg Young, a manager for Maui Brewing Co., was more optimistic.

“You might lose a little bit of that tourist traffic coming from town, but in general … the sunshine’s out — it hasn’t been out for couple days — so I think everybody’s at the beach,” he said. “I think they’re still out and about, and they’re finding a way to get here.”

Kuulei Neher, a sales associate at Bikinibird, said sales over the past few days were down but are almost back to normal.

The Maunawili resident works in Kailua and is a senior at Punahou School, so commuting back and forth is “really difficult.”

“It’s already been difficult going on the Likelike, especially because I live at the bottom of the Pali, so it’s like super irritating,” Neher said, adding that it is taking her about 40 minutes instead of 20 minutes to get to school. “I actually spent the night at my auntie’s house in town — the past three nights — because of just the craziness ’cause I didn’t want to have to deal with it. Some of my friends who live in Kailua and go to school at Punahou, it took them two hours to get to school. It’s just unfortunate like how one highway can affect so many people’s lives, not even just the Kailua people, but everyone in town as well ’cause it causes more traffic. I just hope they get it done as quickly as possible.”