Repair to Downed Poles Results in Gridlock Along Honoapi‘ilani

Update: 7.31.18

Maui Electric crews worked for hours on Monday to repair six downed poles along the Honoapiʻilani Highway. The incident resulted in gridlock along the highway during afternoon rush hour traffic, into Monday evening.

One motorists reported that it took three hours to travel from Kahului to Kahana. Another motorist reported sitting in traffic for 1.5 hours to travel four miles between Keawe Street and Kāʻanapali Parkway.  Those on the bypass also reported gridlock as well.

Maui Electric crews reported that work was completed at around midnight and power was restored to all affected customers in West Maui by 1 a.m. on Tuesday, July 31, 2018.

Crews continue to assess what caused the poles to come down.

Representatives with Maui Electric thanked the public for their patience during the repair work.

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Motorists are advised to drive with caution and expect traffic delays along Honoapiʻilani Highway, after the Lahaina Civic Center going towards Kāʻanapali Parkway, as Maui Electric crews are making repairs to six downed poles in the area until late this evening (Monday, July 30, 2018).

Traffic may also be impacted to other surrounding Lahaina area streets.

Around 3:48 a.m. on Monday, July 30, 2018, about 571 customers in parts of Lahaina and Kāʻanapali experienced an outage when six utility poles came down along Honoapiʻilani Highway.

The majority of customers had power restored by 6:39 a.m. The cause of the downed poles is being assessed.

Maui Electric thanked the public in advance for their patience and understanding as crews continue to safely work on replacing the downed poles as quickly as possible.

PC: Diana Rodbourn. Motorists report that it took 1.5 hours to travel four miles. Rodbourn, who left Keawe street at around 6 p.m. arrived at Kaanapali Pkwy at 7:30 p.m.

Work to repair downed poles along the Honoapiilani Hwy. PC: June Carlo Santos

Maui Now graphic.