WAIMEA — An accident, combined with an unexpected tree-trimming project, backed up traffic for miles on the Westside Wednesday morning.
Kaumuali‘i Highway was closed at mile marker 21, near Pakala, because of a single-vehicle crash around 2:45 a.m.
According to the preliminary investigation, four adult occupants were in a Range Rover heading east on the highway when the vehicle crossed the centerline, over-corrected back to the eastbound lane and hit the guardrail.
The vehicle flipped over the guardrail and tumbled before coming to rest on its passenger side against a power line pole, according to a Wednesday morning Kauai Police Department press release.
The driver of the Range Rover suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was being treated at Wilcox Medical Center Wednesday morning. The front-seat passenger of the Range Rover was medevacked to Oahu with critical injuries to his back and head. Two rear-seat passengers had non-life-threatening injuries.
KPD has not yet released the identities of those involved in the crash, and the investigation remains ongoing.
By 6:20 a.m. KPD had set up temporary contraflow on the highway, and police were directing alternating traffic in the westbound lane. That continued until about 8:30 a.m., when KPD opened both lanes of the highway.
“The reason for such an extended closure this morning was due to its severity and need for an extensive investigation,” said KPD spokeswoman Coco Zickos in a news release.
“Furthermore, this particular incident required additional time and a one-lane closure with alternating traffic for several hours due to the location of the vehicle, which was in such a position that two tow trucks could not remove it.”
Terence Waialeale was late for work at Hair Razors Salon on Rice Street, and said it wasn’t because he left his Kekaha home late that morning.
He was stuck in traffic on the highway with scores of other Westside residents making their way through two different bottlenecks due to the early morning car crash and tree trimming near Maluhia Road, or the Tree Tunnel.
“I’m running late, have to reschedule three of my appointments,” Waialeale said, still sitting in traffic by Garden Island Mortuary in Lawai about 10:30 a.m., more than an hour after he’d left his home. “I’m losing money. This is not good for business.”
Even though the road opened fully by 8:30 a.m., traffic was again backed up once drivers reached the Tree Tunnel area, where the Hawaii Department of Transportation was doing a tree-trimming project.
That was recently put into the schedule because of recent strong winds and wasn’t announced on the regular roadwork schedules.
Wednesday, HDOT Highways Division Deputy Director Ed Sniffen apologized for traffic delays that resulted from the project, but said it couldn’t be put on pause because HDOT determined the threat of downed trees was imminent.
“The tree trimming work on Kaumuali‘i Highway was performed to prevent drivers from being impacted by trees or limbs falling on the roadway,” said Sniffen. “We felt that protecting the public from the potential threat was too important to delay.”
Many did have to drive through both bottlenecks, though, to get to work and school.
Just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, state Department of Education Kauai Complex Area Superintendent Bill Arakaki sent a message alerting of potential delays at Kauai schools because of the crash.
“All schools are open. Buses will be delayed due to the road closure and pick up will be not be at the regular times,” Arakaki said in the message.
Later Wednesday, Arakaki confirmed there were impacts to students and staff at three schools — Waimea Canyon Middle School, Waimea High and Kekaha — but school began as scheduled and staff worked together to cover classes in order to minimize disruptions.
Sixteen buses were delayed and arrived at their respective schools between 9:05 and 9:45 a.m.
Drivers who were stuck in the line of vehicles that eventually stretched from the crash site on the Westside all the way to Lihue, took to social media, posting photos of their plight.
Many of them asked the same question Waialeale voiced while he was sitting in traffic: “Shouldn’t we have a plan for an alternative route? We all have to work or go to school.”
Sometimes traffic is rerouted through detours during closures of Kaumuali‘i or Kuhio Highways, but HDOT spokesman Tim Sakahara said there aren’t alternate routes available in that area.
In the first month of 2020, several collisions have impacted traffic and caused injuries.
The first was on Jan. 1, when 39-year-old Shawn Parraga from Kekaha died after crashing his motorcycle into an ambulance responding to a call about 3 a.m.
KPD’s next traffic alert came on Jan. 3 when a crash in Hanapepe on Kaumuali‘i Highway caused westbound traffic to be diverted through Hanapepe Road on the Eleele side.
Jan. 4, KPD alerted drivers the highway, just east of Halfway Bridge, was closed in both directions due to a traffic collision. Over the course of a few hours, KPD was able to alternate lanes of traffic and eventually was able to reopen the road.
The next day there was another accident in nearly the same location, just east of Halfway Bridge. That accident again closed Kaumuali‘i Highway in both directions for some time.
Tuesday, another crash blocked Kaumuali‘i Highway near Maluhia Road, known as the Tree Tunnel, that made it impossible to turn down Maluhia Road. Traffic was diverted to Omao Road until the crash was cleared.
Wednesday, Waialeale contemplated the string of accidents as he sat in traffic, saying it’s a good reminder to be a careful driver.
He had two words of advice that morning: “arrive alive.”
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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
With road closures due to accidents, planned tree trimming etc. should be put off until road is open. It took over an hour to get from Lihue to Poipu Wed. AM.
I left my Kekaha home at 6:40am, yet cars were at a standstill in Waimea. We watched the sunrise and bikers passing by. After 8:30am, we could move, yet I was also stuck at the Tree Tunnel. It took more than 3 hours to arrive in Lihue. What a day! It’s a joke. Although, I can recognize the crane from Kikiaola construction in the photo. Thanks guys!
This is Kauai, and with people continuing to vote in these Democratic morons you are going to continue getting empty promises and repairs based on money in pockets, hence Rice St. which no one on this island wanted except whoever is benefiting from it…. *coughcough*
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