HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) has announced a full road closure that will impact a major thoroughfare on Oʻahu.
HDOT said the agency will be closing the northbound lanes of Kamehameha Highway between Waipahu Street and Waipi‘o Uka Street. The closure begins at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25; and it will reopen the lanes at 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26.
During the closure, HDOT said traffic will shift into the southbound lanes where there will be one lane open for each direction of traffic.
The Lumi‘au‘au Street entrance and exit at Kamehameha Highway will close, and vehicles will detour to Lumi‘āina Street.
According to HDOT, the closure supports a large-scale mural project that is led by nearly 100 students from local communities in Pearl City, Mililani and Waipahu High Schools.
The students will paint along a three-quarter-mile stretch of Kamehameha Highway to create a visual story of Waipi‘o Ahupua‘a. The project is part of HDOT’s program to beautify public spaces through community partnerships like this one.
Local artists Blythe Yoshikane, Jesse Velasquez and Solomon Enos are set to guide the students as they bring the mural to life.
In recent weeks, HDOT said their crews have already prepared three walls for painting by removing the old coating, applying primer and laying down a base color that moves from mauka to makai.
Special duty police officers will be stationed at Kamehameha Highway and Lumi‘āina Street to help with traffic control, and electronic message boards will remind drivers of the closure and detour.
HDOT is asking motorists to follow all posted signs and “drive safely around the students” as these students “beautify travel corridors and public spaces.”