Pali Highway reopened after rock slide

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - All lanes of the Pali Highway are back open a rock slide near the tunnel.

State Department of Transportation crews worked to pull loose foliage from the mountainside for several hours on Christmas.

DOT said their fencing caught most of the landslide, but crews cleared all the loose material to reduce the potential for additional debris to come down.

Photos and video showed trees uprooted from the mountain and where the branches fell onto the roadway.

Initially, just the far right lane in the Kailua bound direction was closed right after the first tunnel near mile marker six.

However, DOT later shut down all Kailua bound lanes as a precaution.

Officials advised drivers to use alternate routes like Likelike Highway, the H-3. or around through Waimanalo.

A major inconvenience for Ryan Teramoto who was heading home after Christmas lunch.

“Yeah, very much so. Especially since it just opened it back up what a couple of days ago,” said Teramoto pal

The agency had just reopened the highway to traffic in both directions last weekend after several months of road work following a major landslide back in February.

The wet weather sure didn’t put a damper on Jane McKee’s Christmas who had to turn around and use Likelike Highway instead.

“It’s wintery. I love it!" she said. "It’s not a big deal. At least I’m not stuck up there. I’ll get to where I’m going...Hawaii is the best place for Christmas in my opinion.”

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