Ewa-bound traffic
is jammed all day

A Zipper Lane crash
closes two lanes on
the H-1 for nine hours

Motorists headed west on the H-1 freeway found slow-moving traffic for about nine hours yesterday because two lanes were blocked off by the Zipper Lane, which was left open due to an accident.

A private refuse truck crashed into the Zipper Lane's movable concrete barriers near the Waipahu exit yesterday, keeping the two westbound lanes closed for most of the day.

"He must have hit it pretty hard. (The truck) moved about 50 of the concrete barriers. These things weigh 1,500 pounds each," said Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation spokesman.

Honolulu police received the first report of the crash at 7:52 a.m.

Police said they put in a call for an ambulance but later canceled the call.

Ishikawa said the two westbound lanes used for morning contra-flow traffic were closed most of the day because the Zip Mobile could not close the Zipper Lane until the barriers were straightened.

That required transporting a forklift to the scene to move the barriers back in place.

With two fewer lanes available, westbound traffic on the freeway backed up, forcing motorists onto side streets, which slowed down as well, police said.

The barriers were back in place by 3 p.m., and the Zipper Lane closed before 5 p.m., Ishikawa said.