LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Some Kaua'i residents were outraged by hours-long delays in traffic Monday after a rush-hour accident that killed a visitor from Alaska and injured three other people.

Kuhio Highway was closed to two-way traffic from the time of the 4:15 p.m. crash until about 7:15 p.m., but backed up traffic meant that many sat in slow-moving traffic for more than an hour after that.

"I left my (Lihu'e) office at 5 p.m. and didn't get home until 10. My kids were alone until 10 p.m.," said Hanalei resident Heidi Rodgers.

Mayor Bryan Baptiste, who was among those prevented for several hours from going home, has called for a meeting with police.

"We'd like to find a balance between professionally analyzing the scene and expediting people's personal needs," Baptiste said in an e-mail.

Police say there is little they can do to cut the time it takes to process the scene.

"Any fatal accident, we open up as a negligent homicide investigation, and it's a crime scene until we're finished with it," said Lt. Mark Scribner, head of the Kaua'i Police traffic safety unit. He said he has checked with Mainland law enforcement agencies such as Los Angeles and Orange County police, and learned that "their investigations can take hours. We're as fast as anyone in the nation."

In the Monday accident, a family visiting from Alaska was on the four-lane section of Kuhio Highway between the Hilton hotel and Hanama'ulu. Scribner said the northbound rental car appears to have attempted a U-turn from the right lane, and was struck broadside by a northbound bus that had just pulled into the passing lane. The car's driver, Michael Caughran, 51, was killed. He was a longtime employee of the Alaska Department of Administration.

"His co-workers are still in a state of shock at the news Michael was killed during his holiday in Hawai'i," said Kevin Brooks, a deputy commissioner at the Alaska Department of Administration. "He was a mid-level, information technology guy who kept our computer systems up and running. He served a vital role. He was a long-time state employee who was well-liked and well-respected."

Caughran's passengers — his wife, Jacquelyn Smail, 50, and son Sean Caughran, 23, both of Alaska — were injured in the accident, as was bus driver Jerry Elwood, 60, of 'Oma'o. No one else was in the bus. All were treated at Wilcox Hospital and released.

Brooks said Sean Caughran works for the same agency as his father.

Police worked to get traffic moving, first opening up an abandoned one-lane sugar cane road and allowing northbound and southbound traffic to alternate on it, then opening a single northbound lane on Kuhio Highway. But the traffic backup kept growing until the highway had been reopened to two-way traffic. Some visitors refused to drive on the old canoe road, citing rental car contracts that prohibited them from going off-road.

Scribner said that in a serious crash, ambulances must stabilize victims and the traffic safety unit must assemble from wherever on the island its members are, and that can sometimes take time. Because the case may end up in court, the department collects evidence carefully and conducts a thorough investigation, he said.

"We have an obligation to the family and the victims," said his boss, acting assistant chief for patrol Alejandro Quibilan.

Scribner said that reopening the road after Monday's accident took about as long as fatal accidents normally do.

"Time has always been an issue. We took three hours last night, and it's been about the same for the last year," he said.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said his department doesn't have a direct role once an accident occurs. "It's the police department's scene while they're investigating," he said.

The ultimate solution, Scribner said, is having alternative routes. Many of Kaua'i's communities are linked by the Kaua'i Belt Road — which consists of Kuhio Highway on the east and north sides of the island and Kaumuali'i Highway on the south and west — and in many cases there are no secondary routes.

Two alternatives, he said, are to focus on building other routes between major population centers, or at least to build separate roads for opposing traffic — so that one side can be converted for two-way traffic if the other side is closed by an accident.

Kaua'i Visitors Bureau director Sue Kanoho, who fields calls from visitors stuck in traffic and about to miss plane flights and cruise ship departures, said something needs to be done.

"It has been an issue. It continues to be an issue. It will happen again and again and again," Kanoho said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.