honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 10:49 a.m., Friday, September 27, 2002

Kamehameha Highway reopened after rockslide

By Mike Gordon and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

Police partially re-opened a section of Kamehameha Highway near the Kipapa Gulch bridge today after a rockslide forced them to close the highway for several hours.

A state geologist and a soils specialist with the Department of Transportation were to inspect the area today.

No one was hurt last night during the rockslide, but a motorist driving along Kamehameha Highway ran into debris on the road, said Doug Aton, O'ahu Civil Defense Acting Administrator.

The rockslide was reported at 8:47 last night on the Mililani side of the bridge. Several rocks rolled onto the highway, including one boulder that struck a pickup truck.

Police quickly closed the highway and re-opened it at 2 a.m. today. By mid-morning they had partially closed it in order to inspect the rocks.

The rockslide, which may have been triggered by heavy rainfall between 6 and 8 p.m., had come through a chainlink netting on the hillside that is designed to keep debris off the highway, Aton said.

The rain added to the pile of debris pressing against the chainlink netting, Aton said.

"There was an accumulation of rocks and boulders along that area of the fence and apparently, it opened a seam on that fence," Aton said. "Police responded and saw more debris falling through that seam."

Police were worried about the potential for more rocks falling on the road.

"Police have some concern about some of the material that might be hung up in that catch fencing that they have on the bluff up there," John Cummings, a civil defense spokesman, said last night.

A state highways crew was on the scene to clean up the debris last night.