Mudslide at Pali tunnels causes traffic nightmare

What a mess!

By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

Motorists will use two contraflow lanes to drive into town this morning on the Pali Highway after mud and debris slid down a hillside yesterday and choked off the vital link to Kailua.

Two Kailua-bound lanes were opened at 4 a.m. for Honolulu-bound traffic, but the two townbound lanes remain closed as workers continue to clear the mudslide, said state transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa last night. The contraflow traffic will be stopped at noon, he said.

Townbound motorists will enter the other side of Pali Highway at St. Stephen's and return to the Honolulu-bound lanes after the tunnels, Ishikawa said.

Large amounts of mud, small boulders and small trees blanketed the lanes outside the townbound side of the tunnels yesterday. "It's a whole wall of mud that came off the hillside onto both directions of the highway," Ishikawa said yesterday.

State transportation officials shut down the tunnels and workers checked the hillside for unstable areas and cleared the debris after the mudslide about 10:30 a.m. yesterday.

Runoff continued to stream down from the hillside onto the roadway, flooding the townbound lanes. "We still have a mini waterfall coming down from the hill," Ishikawa said.

Sometime after the mudslide occurred, a driver operating a Jeep Cherokee traveling through the townbound tunnel drove into the mud and debris. Police said the driver did not suffer any major injuries.

Several other motorists were also stuck in the townbound tunnel for about an hour. Officials later guided motorists to reverse out of the tunnel to exit on the opposite side of the highway, Ishikawa said.

After the closure, townbound motorists were diverted to Kamehameha Highway and Kailua-bound drivers were sent to Waokanaka Street.

Dozens of truckloads of mud and debris were removed mostly from the townbound lanes.

Motorists heading to Windward Oahu during rush hour were advised yesterday to take either Likelike Highway or H-3 freeway across the Koolau Mountains or Kalanianaole Highway to go around Makapuu.

At about 12:45 p.m., heavy rains pounded the area as rainwater rushed down from the hillside onto the roadway, creating a large pool of muddy water at the exit of the townbound tunnel.

"We never had a problem at this spot," said George Abcede, maintenance engineer of the Highways Division.

"It is very unusual to have problems on the townbound side of the tunnels," said state Transportation Director Rod Haraga, who observed the mudslide yesterday.

Usually, problems occur on the Kailua-bound side of the tunnels, Haraga said.

Following the cleanup, transportation officials were to remain at the Pali Tunnels to monitor the hillside.

At about 2:15 p.m., a smaller mudslide occurred on Kalanianaole Highway between Castle Junction and Kapaa Quarry Road near Le Jardin Academy, according to Sgt. Gary Daniels of the Kailua Police Station.

That mudslide occurred on the Kailua-bound side of the highway. The Kailua-bound lanes were temporarily shut down as workers removed debris from the roadway.

Daniels said another landslide had occurred in the same area a day earlier, prompting officials to shut down one lane during the morning hours.