Updated at 9:41 p.m., Thursday, November 2, 2006
State reopens all Pali Highway lanes
Advertiser Staff
State officials tonight reopened the town-bound lanes of Pali Highway at 9:05 p.m. All lanes in both directions are now open and will be so Friday morning.The roadway was partially buried by a mudslide Wednesday morning just outside the town-side entrance to the tunnels.
Morning traffic from Kailua was contraflowed onto the Kailua-bound lanes from 4 a.m. to noon. After that, the highway was open to Kailua-bound traffic.
At 9:05 p.m., the highway was open in both directions again, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
After the hillside was determined to be stable, crews cleared debris, cut down about 20 trees — many of which were leaning or uprooted — and placed jersey barriers along the slide area, Ishikawa said.
Workers cleared the highway of mud and debris. The muddy wash water was collected by vacuum trucks, Ishikawa said.
Water running downhill was diverted away from the slide area.
The state will continue to monitor the area and might place mulch atop the barren slide area, he said.
