Limited Public Access on Kūhiō Highway Anticipated by the Weekend

Officials hope to reopen Kūhiō Highway by Hanalei Hill to limited vehicular public access by Saturday, March 20.

The opening of the road to the public is dependent on work production.

Landslides on March 9 and 11 covered the highway cutting off access to the North Shore communities. An emergency access lane for emergency personnel was established on March 16.  On Wednesday, March 17, Hawai‘i Department of Transportation coordinated construction activities to prepare the highway for opening to vehicular traffic.

On Wednesday, crews installed a chain link fence on top of the mauka barriers. The fencing will be backed by plywood to reduce loose soils falling on the roadway. The plywood backing is halfway completed.

Crews finished a ground survey of the slope monitoring system, which will alert responders to potential movement of the slope and will serve as an advance warning system while the long-term mitigations are being constructed.

Additional work on Wednesday included trimming back of vegetation on the slope to facilitate tie in to anchored mesh system and preparing the slope for initial soil nail installation to stabilize the slope.

Monitoring of the road above the Hanalei Hills landslide, Kūhiō Highway between Kolopua Apartments and Hanalei Plantation Road, will continue and HDOT will maintain this closure until the automated GPS monitoring is completed.