Commuters get
double shot of
traffic hell

Leeward and Central Oahu motorists who endured nine hours of snail-paced traffic on their commute home Wednesday relived that nightmare yesterday as numerous accidents turned the town-bound lanes of the H-1 freeway into a virtual parking lot at times.

State transportation officials said there were two crashes on the Pearl City viaduct in the town-bound lanes just before the Kaahumanu Street overpass at about 6 a.m.

DOT officials said one collision involved an overturned vehicle, which forced police to shut down all lanes while they cleared the scene.

As traffic on the freeway backed up to Kunia, motorists chose surface streets like Farrington Highway through Waipahu and Kamehameha Highway through Pearl City and it didn't take long for those highways to get clogged.

To help alleviate traffic congestion, state officials opened the Zipper Lane to all motorists, not just those with multiple occupants, by 6:30 a.m. About 7:15 a.m., however, there was a collision in the Zipper Lane near Salt Lake, forcing traffic to stall there as well.

"I don't know how you get into a collision in the Zipper Lane," DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said. "It was a no-win situation this morning."

There also were accidents reported along the H-2 freeway and along the airport viaduct.

Wednesday, the Zipper Lane was the problem. It was left open after the morning commute because of an accident.

A private refuse truck crashed into the Zipper Lane's movable concrete barriers near the Waipahu exit, 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," Ishikawa said.

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 it.

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.