For three weeks starting Monday, a popular hikers’ viewing platform will be off-limits: the Koko Crater summit area atop the Koko Crater tramway trail is scheduled to be closed to the public daily through April 19 for work to mitigate safety issues, the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation announced Wednesday in a news release.
While the trail also will be closed on weekdays, it will be open to the public on weekends and holidays, DPR said, with the exception of Monday and approximately three additional days when the use of a helicopter will require the closure of the entire Koko Head District Park, including the Koko Crater tramway and Koko Head Shooting Complex.
“Luckily, the tramway still offers great views,” said DPR spokesman Nathan Serota, while noting that the tramway hike “will be cut short by a bit for the three-week project.”
The tramway also will be closed on weekdays to Kokonut Koalition volunteers who have been repairing and replacing the railroad ties hikers use as steps, as well as the concrete anchors for the steps.
But Koalition members plan to continue their work while the trail is open on weekends, said Lena Haapala, the nonprofit organization’s media director.
“I know it’ll be quite a bit more crowded (on weekends), but as long as we have the supplies we are determined to continue and progress,” Haapala said.
The city’s mitigation project at the summit entails
removal of debris from
tunnels and shafts; sealing the shafts, vents, and tunnels; and installing signs at the summit, steel platform, and tramway trestle to warn visitors of unsafe
conditions.
The project was recently modified as a result of a resolution between the city and Kokonut Koalition, which delays the removal of the summit’s platform until a separate replacement project can be organized within a 12- to 18-month time frame.
For the current phase of the summit project, the three additional days of closure for helicopter use are tentatively scheduled for April 5, 13 and 14.
