Karsten Thot Bridge Closing

[roadwarriorsvt]

For you central Oahu and North Shore peoples.....


KARSTEN THOT BRIDGE CLOSING FOR REPAIRS STARTING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

HONOLULU — The state Department of Transportation advises Oahu motorists that Kamehameha Highway between Kilani Avenue and Whitmore Avenue will be closed during repairs to Karston Thot bridge beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, September 17. The work is expected to take six weeks.

Crews will be making repairs to the 80-year-old steel truss bridge to address environmental and age-related damage. A full closure of the bridge in both directions will be necessary to allow crews to work safely while expediting the repairs.

During the closure, through traffic will be detoured to Wilikina Drive and Kamananui Road as an alternate route around the closure area. Motorists are advised to allow for extra travel time.

[Ahnkochee]

Do you know if this closure affects access under the bridge for fishermen wanting to fish the north fork?

[roadwarriorsvt]

I don't know for a fact, but I'm hoping not.

[Stan Wright]

The North Bridge, right ?

[BASSTRACKER]

im glad someone is giving us notice, youd think they might have put a heads up on that flashing sign i drive by every day.

[shanai]

A note of caution:

I have a feeling that for liability reasons, especially when they are actively working on the bridge, they would not want anyone near the bridge or going under it for that matter. Don't know if they will enforce the waters though but you might be taking your chances when crossing under the bridge. ( maybe wear a hard hat ? )

steve

[Stan Wright]

News Story in the Advertiser...

http://www.staradvertiser.com/newspremi ... =169747516

[roadwarriorsvt]

Well this morning was the first day of the bridge closure. It was sooooo bad, both me and my neighbor stayed home from work! There was no signage for the north shore peeps coming in so they all were turning around at Whitmore Ave., causing literal gridlock in Whitmore Village. My son-in-law left Whitmore at 0600 hours. He finally reached Schofield Barracks a little after 0800 hours! My daughter gave up trying to get the kids to school. She left at 0630 hours just to sit at our stop sign for over 30 minutes w/o moving, so they just came back home. Its gotta get better than this!!!

[BASSTRACKER]

ya that was a total nightmare. another triumph at incompantancy of the state. i left sunset at 5 am thinking i would be the gridlock, went up kaukonahua knowing it was gonna be worse on kam and still took me an hour and a half to get thrue wahiawa. but once past schofield it was clear sailing! they really need to close both the back gates into schofield and do some better traffic control. the poor cops directing traffic were just overwhelmed with the amount of cars. they couldnt clear the gates fast enough and backlogged out onto kam. maybe the military could have offset their schedules to allow for less traffic. dunno but it was very poorly planned. as if us country people didnt have traffic problems already!! it was a little better coming home but still going out it was back to dole and further on the windy road. if anything good though there were sure alot less people up on the north shore! im sure the businesses hurt but man im tire of all that traffic at lani's!!

[roadwarriorsvt]

Well, this morning was a vast improvement over yesterday. My regular 10 minute commute still took just about an hour, but it could have been alot worse. HPD brought in officers from other districts to assist in traffic control and it sure seemed to help. Schofield Barracks closed McNair Gate so that really helped also. Its gonna be a LONG six weeks!

[medc808]

Looks like they are trying to make things better...

http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/L ... ny5Kg.cspx

[BASSTRACKER]

well i heard it was better out of whitmore, however it was worse off on kaukonahua. yesterday i left at 5 am and made it to work at 7 in kapolei. today i left at 430 am and made it to work at 715. traffic was all the way back to the end of the straightaway at the top of the hill, maybe everyone left earlier or switched from kam. i know alot of it was the suicide u turn military people comming in from the north bound lane after not being able to turn left at macomb gate. gates still open just no left turns from the kemo'o side of the highway. so they got just past the police and would turn into the southbound lane trying to wedge back in. not just a few but dozens of cars doing that, alot of irate people seeing as the aloha went away real fast with north bound traffic blocked and southbound drivers intent on not letting them in. the traffic into wahiawa from the south was all the way back to leleihua golf course on the freeway, i dare say early morning fishing trips might be a bad idea for anyone heading this way. i dont know what its like mid day but early morning and mid afternoon sure suck! ohhhh well try again tommarow with the new changes........

[Stan Wright]

On Tuesday I drove in from H-2 side at about 11:15 AM. No traffic at all on the EXIT ramp (EXIT #8) headed north.

Only two cars ahead of me to make the right turn at Avocado St. and we had the green light.

Left town about 5:30 PM and traffic was backed way up the street in the right lane over the bridge to turn right and head North.
I stayed in the left lane, right over the bridge and got back on H-2 headed South no problem at all.

And the fishing was good too.

[BASSTRACKER]

3 hours tonight to get home, and i was a lucky one. it finally happened a semi hauling rock either broke down or got into an accident just at the merge before mcnair gate. traffic was all the way down onto kunia and i heard from people behind me it was all the way to mililani on the H2. oddly enough this morning i flew right thrue as if it were a holiday, not a single car in front of me at 5 am. opening the bridge made the commute a bit more sane, its down to 11/2 hours to kapolei now but afternoon commutes are still 2 -21/2 hours and todays was insane! they talked on the news about more police at vital checkpoints and new plans but not opening up the bridge for contra flow in the afternoon. ther has been 4-6 solo bike officers directing traffic all week and doing a great job, today despite the promise of a new "plan" there were only 2 officers and they had to abandon thier intersections to head for the accident and it was already way bad. not tom mention someone had the bright idea to not allow traffic onto kaukonahua and force everyone up toward Kam. great plan DOT way to really show your stuff!! thank god its the weekend im staying put spent more time in traffic this week than most people spend at work!!!!

[Ahnkochee]

New name for the bridge should be Karsten Thotless Bridge since the state didn't put much thought into planning for traffic regulation.