Hours temporarily changed for Kailua-bound contraflow on Pali Highway

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Pali Highway afternoon contraflow will be open Wednesday, but the lanes will be opened later than normal.

The state Transportation Department said the contraflow will be available from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Typically, the contraflow opens at 3 p.m.

Heavy rains overnight and into Wednesday morning forced the state to cancel Wednesday’s morning contraflow on the Pali Highway.

The later start to the afternoon contraflow was needed to finish stabilizing a slope that failed in the same area where a landslide came down in February.

State officials said the heavy rain overwhelmed some erosion matting that had been installed in recent months.

“We saw constant drops of material coming through. We didn’t want to open it (Pali Highway) up because we were concerned that if material kept coming down, there could be the potential that it could hit a vehicle,” said Highways Division deputy director Ed Sniffen.

“What we did today was rematted the slope. We put in six-foot anchors in there to make sure there’s enough capacity that those mats will not be removed again.”

The contraflow hours are expected to return to normal Thursday.

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