Motorists dreading the start of the H-1 Freeway Punahou Street off-ramp widening project this month have received a two-month reprieve.
State transportation officials have delayed the project until May because of a problem moving a nearby water tower.
The off-ramp project calls for adding a second right-turn lane onto Punahou Street.
The project contractor, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., was planning to move the water tower from where the new right-turn lane will be, when it found asbestos in the tower, state transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said.
"The asbestos containment work will take at least a month," Kali said about the water tower, which is used to provide air conditioning for the adjacent Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
Commuters were preparing for construction-related gridlock this month because the Punahou off-ramp is the most heavily used off-ramp on the H-1. Nearly 29,000 vehicles travel on it each day.
The state is also considering shutting down the nearby Ward Avenue and Pi‘ikoi Street on-ramps during the weekday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. construction.
There is no work planned at the Ward or Pi‘ikoi on-ramps, but because they are within a mile of the Punahou off-ramp, transportation officials wanted to steer motorists away from the area to help reduce bottlenecks.
Kali said state engineers are still deciding whether to close both on-ramps, but said at least one of the two will be shut down when construction begins.
