Motorists traveling on Kalanianaole Highway near Makapuu can expect delays again beginning Monday. Rock work will cause
delays near MakapuuStar-Bulletin staff
Only one lane will be open during the workweek while crews continue to anchor steel netting on the slope above the highway to stop boulders from falling onto the road. Materials and equipment will be staged from the mauka lane of the highway during the last phase of construction that began in November.
Police will stop vehicles near the Makapuu lookout and Sea Life Park and create a contraflow lane between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The work is expected to be completed in mid-April.
The project was originally scheduled to begin this month, but the state moved up the start date to November after a rockfall on Oct. 15.
The original cost was about $1.3 million, but moving the start date up added $500,000, so the project is now estimated at $1.8 million, said U Kuong Ung, the state Department of Transportation's rural construction engineer.
The first phase of the project involved blasting away seven rock outcroppings and encasing the slope in steel netting.
During the blasting phase of the project, both lanes of the highway were closed.
However, Ung said that the single lane closure should not have much of an impact. A similar single-lane closure in December created minimal delays, he said.