CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Police diverted traffic today at the Punchbowl Street exit.
Woman kills self Town-bound traffic came to a near standstill this morning after a woman apparently committed suicide about 5:15 a.m. by jumping onto the H-1 Freeway from the Queen Emma Street overpass.
jumping onto H-1
Police close the lanes going east,
bringing traffic to a standstillStar-Bulletin staff
Police said the woman landed in the east-bound lanes of the freeway and was struck by a vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police closed a east-bound portion of the freeway and diverted motorists elsewhere for investigation of the apparent suicide.
Morning traffic -- on the freeway as well surface streets -- was backed up for hours as motorists sought alternate routes to get to work, police said.
U.S. Department of Defense employee Monique Watkins-Blackwell was not aware of the traffic slowdown when she left her home in Aiea to drop her daughter off at Pearl City Elementary School. As she approached the H-1 Freeway viaduct, "I saw all red lights, just parking lot."
Police closed the Liliha Street on-ramp and the Punchbowl Street off-ramp and on-ramp portion of the freeway to keep the death scene clear of motorists. Nimitz Highway was one of the surface streets where traffic came to a crawl this morning after motorists were kept off the freeway.
Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation spokesman, said his own morning commute from Mililani took two hours today as he sought Nimitz Highway as an alternate route. His morning drive usually is about 50 minute to an hour.
"Once you take out a major artery, you kinda knew it was going to be a domino effect," said Ishikawa, "It was pretty slow going, it was a crawl."
However, traffic monitors at the city's traffic control center said traffic on Nimitz moved more smoothly than on the other routes into town.
Traffic began to ease after police reopened the freeway shortly before 9 a.m.
