Posted on: Friday, March 1, 2002

Sinkhole snarls traffic

Advertiser Staff

Motorists traveling through Pearl City on Kamehameha Highway will have to contend with coned, contra-flow lanes for the next few days while crews complete repairs on a sinkhole that opened yesterday morning.

Two of the highway's six lanes are closed. Officials last night set up three town-bound lanes and one 'ewa-bound lane for today's morning commute.

The sinkhole, near Hawaiian Electric Co.'s Waiau power plant, is in the two town-bound lanes closest to the median strip.

The hole initially measured 25 feet by 25 feet but got bigger throughout the day, said Department of Transportation spokesman Dean Harvest.

For part of yesterday afternoon, traffic in both directions of Kamehameha Highway between Ka'ahumanu and Pu'u Poni streets was cut off while repair crews fixed collapsed storm drains that led to the roadway's cave-in.

Final repairs will take about three days and state officials were scheduled to meet with contractors this morning, said Martin Okabe, the state Department of Transportation's O'ahu District engineer.