A truck carrying a steel counterweight without a proper permit struck the H-1 Freeway's Gulick Avenue overpass in Kalihi yesterday, temporarily disrupting eastbound morning traffic.

The collision sent small chunks of the overpass to the freeway below, but engineers with the state Department of Transportation determined that the overpass is structurally sound, said Scott Ishikawa, DOT spokesman.

Police cited the driver of the Island Topsoil Service truck for not having a DOT permit to carry the steel counterweight, which was used to balance a 10-foot shipping container, Ishikawa said.

The top of the counterweight was 6 inches higher than the 14-foot, 3-inch clearance height of the Gulick overpass, Ishikawa said.

Just before 9:30 a.m., the driver hit the overpass with such force that it bent the steel counterweight, Ishikawa said.

Police temporarily closed the right-hand lane of the freeway to allow DOT officials to photograph the damage and to move the truck to the side of the road.

The driver then had to move his load to a different, lower trailer.

"There's no way he's going to fit under the other overpasses," Ishikawa said.

In September 2006, an Army truck damaged the 'Aiea pedestrian overpass, shutting down all six 'ewa-bound lanes of H-1 and causing gridlock across the island.

Before crashing into the overpass, the Army driver also hit four freeway signs and their lighting systems, causing a total of about $700,000 in damage.

The repairs, including a newly designed lighting system, were completed in the past few weeks and DOT officials will send a claim for the damage to the Army by the end of this month, Ishikawa said.

He reminded commercial truck drivers that they need to get proper permits from the DOT's highway district office in Mapunapuna.

On Wednesday, a driver spilled 300 gallons of house paint on the Waipahu off-ramp of the westbound H-1 Freeway, which took four hours to clean up.

"They have a responsibility to the public to make sure their load is properly registered and properly secured so we don't have these kinds of things happening," Ishikawa said. "We're not giving out permits for the sake of giving out permits. We need to make sure their loads are secure and help them map out proper routes."