Downed trees and limbs are still fresh in our minds from last week's storm.

It seems timely that the state transportation department is surveying trees along the Likelike for possible hazards.

Scott Ishikawa of the state department, "Today we're out here with the outdoor circle and a couple arborists. We wanted to figure out which trees either needed to be removed or pruned back for safety purposes."

Several different species of trees pose possible hazards - Albizia, Eucalyptus and Ironwood trees.

"The trees we're looking at are either too close, too heavy or too tall or they have rotted away from termite damage. We're probably looking at a couple hundred trees that either need to be removed or pruned back," Ishikawa said.

The state raised concerns when it began cutting down Albizia trees along the H2 freeway without consulting with the environmental group, the outdoor circle. Spokesman Bob Loy says the situation is different this time.

Loy said, "it's a completely different situation than along the H2 at Mililani mauka where if you remove a half dozen trees, everyone's going to notice. Here, along the Likelike, you can remove a lot of trees and no one would notice because it's so densely forested."

The work won't begin until after the first of the year. Two hundred trees will be considered for removal or pruning.

"We're going to be doing something called directional pruning where you can actually save the tree, but you prune it in a certain way where the tree leans away from the road rather than towards it so that if it does fall down, it won't cause an accident," Ishikawa said.

The work will likely be done during the middle part of the day, between the morning and evening rush hours.

At least one lane will have to be closed during much of the work which extends ten miles along the Likelike highway, on both sides of the road.
The outdoor circle understands certain trees pose a hazard.

"The outdoor circle wants to make sure that in its obligation to protect public safety, the DOT doesn't go overboard and remove trees that shouldn't be removed."

The next major project for the state will be checking the trees along the Pali highway for hazards.