HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawaii Department of Transportation is looking to provide relief to drivers by adding a lane at the Middle Street merge, a known bottleneck for commuters.
Whether you are driving into town on the Moanalua Freeway or the H-1, drivers can rest assured traffic will slow down or come to a complete stop right at the merge near Middle Street.
The Kalihi, Palama Neighborhood Board Chair Amanda Ybanez said this is a headache for drivers.
Ybanez said, “Since post-COVID, everybody is back to work, traffic is heavier and thicker than ever.”
The Hawaii Department of Transportation started a major project this year to widen the H-1, a project that will continue for the next two years.
Partial lane closures started in February with crews relocating utility infrastructure.
Ybanez said, “It is going to impact people in the short term and in the long term it’s going to be actually helping them out.”
Transportation officials said the merge on the Moanalua Fwy will be removed and will widen the highway to expand it from four to five lanes towards the Likelike Hwy exit.
A DOT spokesperson said the department has a temporary easement from Kalihi Union Church for the project, and they plan to purchase 218 square feet from the church appraised at $9,700.
The DOT said this project will enhance safety and alleviate congestion, all important for the Sunrise Shack Hawaii morning deliveries.
Remy Bouzard is one of the managers at Sunrise Shack Hawaii, he said, “Anything that helps the traffic is important for us and we have deliveries at various times of the day.”
Part of this project includes improvements to the Gulick Avenue bridge.
Officials said large trucks have hit that overpass, the plan is to lengthen it by moving the two ends of the overpass by 15-and-a-half feet on each side. The bridge will also be raised six inches by removing the fascia from the bottom of the bridge.
This work will require full and partial closures of the bridge starting in March through early April 2026.
A temporary pedestrian bridge is scheduled to be installed by the end of February.
The DOT shared the following timeline for the project.
Partial lane closures starting from February between 7 a.m. -4 p.m. A lot of utility relocation work to start that will require single lane closures that will alternate directions for the next year.
Temporary ACROW pedestrian bridge will be installed around the end of February 2025
Partial closure (24-hour lane closures) anticipated March 2025, road and bridge partial demolition
Full closure for drilled shaft installation May through June 2025
Back to partial closure June through July 2025 for P/T duct installation work
Back to partial closures during the day from July through November 2025
Then full closure of the bridge from late November 2025 through early April 2026 for structural elements of the bridge work
After this major work, they will be back to the 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. to finish up paving/close-out, etc. through August 2026.
This project is estimated to cost $112 million.