<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2W5UO7_1H4Vj30A00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2W5UO7_1H4Vj30A00" width="1200" height="600" >HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A closure on the H-1 Freeway early Friday morning sent traffic spilling onto surrounding streets, leaving drivers frustrated and raising questions about Honolulu’s ability to keep people moving during emergencies.For some commuters, the delays meant arriving late to work.“How was traffic this morning? Bad as always. It was just terrible,” said Honolulu resident Ezekiel Stewart.Brandi Stadel, who commutes from Mililani by bus, said her trip took significantly longer than usual.“I come in on the bus in the morning from Mililani, and I’m usually to work by 10 to six, and I didn’t get in until about 6:35 p.m.,” Stadel said.Police shut down most lanes of the H-1 around 3 a.m. after a man was reported standing above the Liliha Street overpass. The man was later found dead. Police classified the case as an unattended death.<h2>Backups spread onto surrounding roads</h2>With traffic reduced from four lanes to one, backups quickly spread across major roadways, said Roger Morton, director of the city Department of Transportation Services.“We went from four lanes down to one lane, with only one lane, you’re cut down. So the 6,000 or so it just goes everywhere,” Morton said.“It goes to all the major arteries like King Street, Dillingham, Nimitz Highway, but it also all the little side streets were clogged up today to everybody was looking for a fast way to get around the problem. And unfortunately, in a situation like that, all routes are clogged,” he added.Morton said the city’s transportation team adjusted traffic signals to help ease congestion.The situation also brought back memories of 2025, when a tsunami warning sent people scrambling for higher ground and triggered widespread traffic backups.<h2>Emergency response and traffic coordination</h2>Morton said the city has since emphasized coordination between emergency responders and transportation officials.“When we do have an emergency is that we immediately, we staff what we call the bridge in our JTMC, our Joint Traffic Management Center,” he said. “And that’s the bridge, then it’s all the first responders, the supervisors of the different agencies, HPD, fire, EMS, ocean safety, our traffic engineers, so everybody’s on the same wavelength.”However, Friday’s gridlock highlighted how difficult it can be to navigate Honolulu when major roadways are disrupted.Stadel said the congestion raises safety concerns, particularly during an emergency.“I do think it’s a safety hazard,” she said. “The question is what do you do? I will say this though. If the train actually came downtown like it was supposed to, I would have been on the train this morning and I would have made it into work on time.”Stewart said he worries about how traffic would affect people trying to evacuate during another emergency.“Traffic is always bad like in the mornings and right after work. So I don’t know what we do in that situation for the tsunami.”<h2>Traffic signal improvements</h2>Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation Services said it’s working to improve traffic signal coordination along Farrington Highway.Morton said the department began replacing older traffic signal controllers last month, starting along the route between Kapolei and Makaha.“We just started a project last month to get our connected traffic signals all the way out to Makaha, from Kapolei all the way to Makaha,” he said. “Last month, we started replacing all of the older traffic signal controllers with brand new state-of-the-art ones, and we started doing that on Farrington first.”</div></body>

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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A closure on the H-1 Freeway early Friday morning sent traffic spilling onto surrounding streets, leaving drivers frustrated and raising questions about Honolulu’s ability to keep people moving during emergencies. For some commuters, the delays meant arriving late to work. “How was traffic this morning? Bad...

H-1 closure, gridlock raise concerns about traffic during emergencies

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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A closure on the H-1 Freeway early Friday morning sent traffic spilling onto surrounding streets, leaving drivers frustrated and

H-1 closure, gridlock raise concerns about traffic during emergencies

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