Changes to a construction project along Farrington Highway have alleviated huge traffic jams that plagued the work in its first few weeks and made motorists fear they would have to suffer through the problem for the full three years of scheduled work.

Two weeks since the Board of Water Supply began contraflowing traffic, the result has been so dramatic that one resident called it "a miracle."

Before the change, Patty Teruya said it took her 48 minutes to travel the short stretch between Nanakuli and Honokai Hale as traffic backed up every morning from Honokai Hale to the power plant at Kahe Point. Now she praises the contraflow design, which has all but eliminated the daily jam of slow-moving vehicles.

"It's working," said Teruya, chairwoman of the Nanakuli-Ma'ili Neighborhood Board. "It's a lot better than it was."

The plan was implemented following a number of complaints about the traffic situation created by the Board of Water Supply's water main replacement project. The three-phase project began in March and is expected to continue through 2011.

To ease the pressure, and quell the rage along the four-lane highway — the only corridor in and out of the Wai'anae Coast — on May 8, BWS initiated contraflow lanes designed to get things moving again.

The idea was to open an extra town-bound lane each morning by using one of the Wai'anae-bound lanes. This left Wai'anae-bound traffic with a single lane when traffic in that direction would be at a minimum. In the afternoon, the whole process would be reversed for returning traffic.

There have been a few hitches.

BWS spokeswoman Sue Shin said a stalled vehicle and a fender bender near Honokai Hale on May 13 created a midday westbound bottleneck.

Shin said the traffic accident took place in the only west-bound contraflow lane available. Once that lane stopped moving, traffic rapidly backed up between the accident point and Kapolei.

The problem was solved by undoing the contraflow lane, thus opening up both west-bound lanes to traffic, said Shin. This left the east-bound traffic toward Honolulu with a solitary lane. However, with the morning town-bound rush finished, and the Wai'anae-bound rush yet to begin, the traffic flow was again able to move along steadily, she said.

"It's not a perfect situation," Shin said. "But it's not like they (contractor, work crews and BWS personnel) aren't paying attention."

In fact, Shin said the contraflow solution has worked so well that a new problem has cropped up: drivers going too fast.

"The contraflow isn't supposed to create a situation where you can drive full speed," Shin said. "It's just supposed to keep the traffic flowing. Ironically, the contraflow is maybe working a little too well.

"We just had a meeting with the construction folks and they were saying that people are speeding through the zone now, and knocking over cones. And they aren't knocking them over by hitting them. They're going so fast they're blowing them down."

Shin urged motorists to use caution, drive safely and travel at reduced speed while navigating the construction zone.