Honoapiʻilani Highway Closed ... what is the effect...the cause is an accident (Wailuku: 2013)

[maui-intoxicated]

MauiNow states that this major Honoapiʻilani Highway Closed and travelers are being turned around.

Does this happen often on this highway, in Maui?
Has anyone been stuck in a situation like this and how bad of an inconvenience is it...I understand any accident is an inconvenience...but I am just trying to understand the effect in relation to an island grid.

Honoapi


YES I am still working on landing a contract in Maui. Stay tuned!

Mahalo! and I hope all is well, I will see you soon my friends!

[Jungjohann]

It's much more inconvenient for the poor folks IN the accident. My favorite, in which there were no fatalities, just some damaged palm trees.. A few years back, a couple of 18 wheelers were bringing palm trees out to the west side. Evidently, the trucks were following one another, and approaching the tunnel. Unbeknownst to truck #1, his load of trees had shifted just a bit, due to the wind and not being properly tied down. Upon entering the tunnel, the cab cleared just fine, but, the trees, not quite so much. So, truck #1, it's load of trees being more or less perpendicular to the tunnel opening, came to an abrupt halt. Truck #2, a little behind #1, then ran into truck #1, and both kind of jack knifed.. Traffic came to a complete halt, with one truck semi wedged in the tunnel. Soooo, after a while, traffic Wailuku bound REALLY started to back up, with some folks having the common sense to just turn around. Evidently, one person, no doubt smoking a cigarette in frustration, tossed a butt out the window, into the brush on the mauka side of the Pali.. Result of the butt tossing, a brush fire. Now, the tunnel is blocked, completely, and Wailuku fire department send out a couple of engines, that can't get through the tunnel. Lahaina fire department sends out what they have, and, picking there way through traffic, finally makes it to the fire by the firing range... Another day in paradise..

Pays to have ohana on the west side

(semi wedged,,, auwe)

[maui-intoxicated]

That INDEED does sound like a fun story. I was stuck in rush hour last summer with my brand new truck and a brush fire started up. Presumebly from a cigerette butt I'm sure... that's when the thought crossed my mind "How do fireman keep there trucks smelling good?" Honestly I drove through the controlled fire and my truck still smells like smoke... that reminds me I need to replace my cabin filter.

Two years ago in the Minneapolis area we had one of our infamous "ice rain storms" where it essentially rains and freezes instantly on whatever it hits... yepp trees, your vehicles windshield, the roadways, and even salting the roads has no effect on this stuff. It renders the roadways ALMOST useless but for some odd reason people still drive in this stuff, me included. So I am driving the interstate and all of a sudden I see cars start sliding down from the high lanes down into the ditch... so I gun my 4x4 up as HIGH as I can get on the interstate shoulder... and I start fish tailing like a video game right past about 6-7 cars in the ditch... these poor folks cars tires just had no traction and were sliding down the road the wide way and smashing each other. It looked like a real life bumper cars field and I had magically out-smarted a gaggle of sliding cars.

I've smoked a few deer in my day as well. In the North Country those suckers come out from nowhere and they don't turn back. I saw an 8point get taken out and bounced around like a pinball machine on a 4lane interstate before.

I think getting away form the sheer amount of 100's of thousands of vehicles on the Twin Cities roadways will be a nice change for me. I don't mind sitting in traffic here and there...but I've been driving in a parking lot to work for the past 8years. Stop...and go. Is Chicago worse, sure. Is LA worse, maybe, but it just depends on if the amount of sprawl is being factored into the stats. I drive 11miles and it takes me 30-40minutes everyday. I am looking forward to a change there.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I received an email from Hawaiian airlines alerting of the highway closure. It said that anyone trying to get to the airport today would be able to switch to a later flight free of charge. But that offer was only good today, so hopefully the highway gets cleared quickly.