An unscheduled road maintenance project on the Pali Highway caused a miles-long backup of traffic for several hours yesterday morning, officials said.

A state Transportation Department road crew began coning off one town-bound lane of traffic about 8:30 a.m. to whack weeds along the median strip, officials said. That quickly caused traffic to slow to a crawl between the Pali Tunnels and Castle Junction.

The problem was compounded by heavier than normal traffic on the Pali because the alternative route along the Likelike Highway is closed for tunnel work.

"The road crew took it upon themselves to do the work today," DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said. "If they had notified somebody in the next office up, we probably would have told them it wasn't a good time."

Within an hour of the first complaints from motorists, DOT officials ordered the maintenance crew to halt work and open both lanes of town-bound traffic, he said.

Ishikawa also said motorists heading to the Windward side during the afternoon rush hour should consider using a special contraflow lane on the Likelike Highway.

"Many people are using the Pali Highway in the afternoon and that's backing up traffic there. Meanwhile, traffic is sailing smoothly along on the Likelike," he said.