Highway Closures Due To Rockfall And Erosion Drive Calls For More Frequent Road Inspections
Almost 168 miles of the state’s roads are at risk of damage from major earth movement with remote communities bearing the brunt of the lengthy disruptions.
Coastal erosion isn鈥檛 the only danger to roads in Hawaii — a fact once again highlighted after weekend rain caused rockfall to pummel the main road on Oahu鈥檚 North Shore.
Incidents like this have prompted lawmakers in the House to advance a bill Thursday that would require the Department of Transportation ; essentially doubling the current frequency of once a decade and requiring additional inspections after heavy rain.
The move came a few days before rockfall shut down part of the Kamehameha Highway and ; an area famously susceptible to landslides and geological instability.
鈥淭he Honokohau Valley, the Kahakuloa area, Hana, we鈥檝e had major landslides and rockslides there after heavy rains,鈥 said . Cochran represents West Maui, where roads leading to and from .
A total of , according to a 2021 DOT report. That same year the DOT also .
Sunday’s , severing the North Shore鈥檚 main arterial road for almost the entire day. It’s a stretch marked red for “very high” risk on the DOT map. Buses that ordinarily travel the length of Kamehameha Highway were rerouted to turn around at the site of the incident, forcing passengers to get out and walk or bike across if they wanted to transfer to the other side.
鈥淭ook me two hours to drive home yesterday,鈥 said North Shore resident Karen Gallagher, who said she had to go around the other side of the island.
Fellow North Shore resident Bob Leinau, who worked at Waimea Valley for 35 years, said he brings up the rockfall issue every time the region gets a fresh elected official. That same area of road saw heavy rockfall in 2000 leading to months of road closure. There was some brief official focus on preventative measures in other vulnerable places like Makapuu, but not so much by Waimea.
鈥淚 understand how priorities shift, but erosion doesn鈥檛 go away. Erosion generally progresses,鈥 Leinau said.
The events can also be costly.
In 2019 heavy rains required months of repairs on the Pali Highway and required about $20 million to fix.
The bill advanced without much fanfare. Two pieces of testimony were submitted in support including one from the DOT — which currently performs formal inspections every eight to 10 years — along with 鈥渨indshield inspections鈥 they perform while driving by each year according to communications manager Shelly Kunishige.
More frequent inspections would require more funding from the legislature the DOT said in their testimony.
The DOT also uses this money for equipment like mesh netting and concrete barriers to hold in rocks, plus drones to more efficiently inspect problem areas.
Many of the communities most susceptible are remote enough that road closures can cut them off from external resources.
passed the House Transportation Committee last week and now awaits a hearing in the House Finance Committee.
