Pali Highway Closure Memories

By now, Windward residents are too familiar with the closure of the Pali Highway and its impact on traffic. Tuesday (the first day of the closure) was a commuter’s nightmare as expected. Leaving home at 6:00, I didn’t get to Honolulu until around 7:40, driving through Waimanalo and Hawaii Kai.

For the drive home, I reversed my course and the commute took about the same amount of time. But conditions were better listening to streaming electronic music and letting Enhanced Autopiolot creep along in traffic.

Day number two was bad, and there wasn’t much that could be done. Everyone knew what to expect, but there were just too many cars trying to get across the Koolaus. As soon as I got on the H3, traffic was backedup. It was moving but very slowly.

Thanks to the Hawaii Department of Transportation, the contraflow lanes opened on Thursday and worked wonders almost bringing traffic levels back to normal in the morning.

#Hitraffic update: The #Pali Hwy contraflow is working well for drivers going Honolulu bound. FYI drivers can use both lanes coming from Kailua (from Castle Hospital). You do not need to merge to the right lane before Castle Junction. Follow the path of the cones. pic.twitter.com/1EbhSKKALB

— Hawaii DOT (@DOTHawaii) February 21, 2019

I’m hoping there won’t be any more memories from this Pali Highway closure…