Kakaako street closed for months reopens after sinkhole repair

An intersection in Kakaako that has been closed to all vehicle traffic since October for a sinkhole repair has been reopened.

The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Design and Construction today announced that the intersection at Halekauwila and Cooke streets was officially reopened to the public Thursday evening.

A large sinkhole was discovered at the intersection on Oct. 18, and city officials determined it was an “immediate safety risk” to motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

The intersection had been closed since then.

“We can’t thank the residents, shops and businesses in Kakaʻako enough for their patience and understanding while we worked to safely reopen the intersection,” said Haku Milles, the director of the city’s design and construction department, in a statement. “There is more work left to be done, but allowing traffic to move freely again in the area was a critical step forward for the entire neighborhood.”

The city in a news release today said that “water had been leaking from the joints of an existing box culvert storm drain beneath Cooke Street, eroding sections of land approximately 14 feet beneath the surface of the roadway of the intersection.”

The box culvurt sections, which are about 12 feet wide and 8 feet tall, had gaps at the joints, where sections connect to each other.

Repairs to the box culvert sections are ongoing along parts of Cooke Street, but enough repairs have been made to fully reopen the closed intersection.

In the coming weeks, construction crews will be doing repairs on makeshift islands in the middle of Cooke Street that will still allow for two-way traffic.

Entrances and exits to parking lots will be unobstructed, but there will be a temporary loss of street parking in the area, the city said.

Work is scheduled to take place on Mondays through Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., until that phase of construction finishes.