(BIVN) – The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation held a virtual hearing on Friday afternoon, detailing their plan to designate the Daniel K. Inouye Highway as a traffic emergency zone between mile posts 5.5 and 28.
The designation follows the most recent fatal crash that claimed the life of a motorist on Thursday. There have been five deaths on the cross-island road so far in 2026.
The online meeting lasted for about a half hour. Hawaiʻi DOT officials presented both short term actions, and possible long-term options, during the first five minutes of the hearing. The remainder of the meeting was spent answering questions from participants.
By designating the dangerous stretch of highway as a traffic emergency zone, the State can expedite procurement and waive certain permitting requirements in order to make quickly make safety improvements.
Planned short-term actions facilitated through the TEZ
- In-lane thermoplastic rumble strips and additional curve ahead chevron signs before curves and downhill areas to provide drivers feedback of road changes
- Open Graded High Friction surface course in areas between mile posts 16 and 19 and 10 to 16 where surface water runs on the roadway
- Wet weather road striping
- Installation of speed safety cameras to issue warnings to those traveling more than 11 miles over the posted speed limit set by Hawaii Revised Statutes §291C-106
Potential Long-Term Options
- Full Divided Highway Conversion
Convert the corridor to a fully divided 4-lane highway (2 lanes each direction) with a physical median separation - Four-Lane Undivided
Add an additional lane to maintain two lanes each direction - Install Concrete Median Barrier Within Existing Footprint
Install concrete barrier with minimal widening by narrowing lanes/shoulders - High-Tension Cable Median Barrier Within Existing Footprint
Install cable barrier in median/center separation area - Restriping of Highway for Alternate Direction Passing Lanes
Number of lanes in each direction periodically alternate between 1 and 2 so each direction has passing lanes - Provide Striped Median
Narrow travel lanes and provide striped median for separation - Speed Management / Automated Enforcement
Potential future speed camera enforcement, targeted enforcement zones, dynamic speed feedback systems
Installation of the Open Graded High Friction surface course will start Monday at mile markers 16 to 19, and then mile markers 10 to 16, said Clifford Corpuz of the Hawaiʻi DOT. The entire project will take about a month.
Corpuz said the DOT will be getting a report within four months on the potential long-term solutions.
