HONOLULU- The right east bound lane of Ala Moana Boulevard will be closed nightly from from 6 p.m. untill 6 a.m. through Thursday as D.O.T. crews move concrete jersey barriers and other equipment from Kakaako into Waikiki in preparation for the APEC Leaders' Meeting this weekend.
The surprise lane closure was announced late Tuesday by the State Transportation Department. DOT spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said the U.S. Secret Service provided a tight schedule to move the barriers into place, and after studying traffic patterns on Ala Moana Boulevard Monday evening, there was no choice but to close one lane into Waikiki.
"We realized that if we had just went with the full traffic with our equipment, there's no way we would be able to setup all the barriers in time by the time limit," Meisenzahl explained.
A total of 450 jersey barriers will need to be moved from a parking lot on Ahui Street adjacent to the John A. Burns School of Medicine into Waikiki. The DOT is using nine trucks to perform the work, and it takes about 50 minutes to load and unload five concrete barriers onto each vehicle, not counting driving time.
Tuesday evening, the first night of the lane closure, saw traffic on Ala Moana into Waikiki backed up from Atkinson Drive to Kalakaua Avenue. At 7 p.m. it took about a half hour to drive the half mile stretch. The city even issued a text alert at 7:38 p.m. telling drivers to avoid the area.
The barriers will be used to transform Ala Moana Boulevard into a single east bound thoroughfare, from Kahanamoku Street to Kalakaua Avenue, from 10 p.m. Friday evening through 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
Those who live or work in Waikiki were already game planning their commutes, even before the latest lane closure was announced.
"Just tried to get bus scheduling and just make sure I could get to work on time," said Waikiki resident Nancy Thompson.
"It's going to be terrible for business," added Waikiki bartender Matt Crumpton, who works at Arnold's Beach Bar and Grill on Saratoga Road. "All of Waikiki is probably going to be hurting."
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