HI: 2011 conversion of one-lane Wailua River bridge in Kauai to two lanes

[oscar]

In 2011, one notorious bottleneck on HI 56 (Kuhio Highway) north of Lihue, at the Wailua River crossing was finally fixed, by converting a one-lane cane haul bridge that carried a single northbound lane into a two-lane northbound bridge.  That eliminated the need to contraflow one lane on what's now a two-lane southbound-only bridge.  (Other bottlenecks and contraflows remain, so traffic on the east side of Kauai remains a mess.  But the remaining three-lane segments are all on dry land, so Hawaii DOT has to use different excuses for their continued existence.)

Here's one of the photos I took of the underside of the newly-widened northbound bridge, showing how the old one-lane bridge was widened without a prolonged closure (I don't know how long the old bridge was closed for the project).  Basically, cantilever supports were attached to each side of the old bridge and its piers, then a prefabricated new bridge structure was placed atop the old bridge and new supports.  A parallel pedestrian/bike walkway was also added, cantilevered off the right side (toward the ocean) of the widened bridge.



One side effect is that the northbound lanes are noticeably higher than the southbound lanes, as shown in this photo taken between the bridges from the north shore of the river (the northbound bridge is to the left):

[kurumi]

Does that mean this "split" of the northbound lanes is no longer in place?



(Photo taken in 2002)

[oscar]

Does that mean this "split" of the northbound lanes is no longer in place?

Yes.

[Alps]

One of the rare times I actually took photos that show the road, and not just signs and bridges...
www.alpsroads.net/roads/hi/hi_56