Kuhio Highway opens emergency lane after landslide
The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) is updating on continued closures of Kuhio Highway (Route 560) on the north shore of Kauai at mile marker 1 approaching Hanalei Bridge (“Hanalei Hill”).
The emergency access lane for responders was opened Tuesday, March 16. Refuse trucks, post office trucks, and other critical service providers drove through the emergency access lane as coordinated by the County of Kauai. As a reminder, access is currently limited to emergency and essential vehicles as authorized by the County.
Construction activities today included:
- Installation of the barrier fence on top of the mauka barriers. These installations are expected to be complete tomorrow.
- Continued rock scaling and removal of loose materials.
- Removal of loose trees whose root systems were compromised by the soil saturation.
- Preparation of the slope for initial soil nail installation to stabilize the slope.
- Coordination and protection of underground utilities.
- Continued work on the slope monitoring system that included KIUC powering the site. Additional work scheduled includes ground survey to set benchmarks. System is expected to be fully operational tomorrow.
Rain showers affected the site throughout the day. Construction activities and the emergency access was coordinated to avoid activities on the upper slope during emergency and essential vehicle movements.
Information on the plan to provide public access after the emergency access period will be announced soon. HDOT needs to restrict access during construction hours for safety and to ensure efficient single lane alternating movement through the area.
Monitoring of the road above the Hanalei Hills landslide, Kuhio Highway between Kolopua Apartments and Hanalei Plantation Road, will continue and HDOT will maintain this closure until the automated GPS monitoring is installed.
Daily updates and photos will be posted at https://hidot.hawaii.gov/2021-hanalei-hill-landslide/ until highway access for the communities of Hanalei, Wainiha, and Haena is restored.
