Pali Highway was scheduled to be reopened at 4 a.m. today to Windward commuters headed into town after being shut down yesterday after a landslide covered the roadway with over 10 tons of debris.

State Department of Transportation officials planned to contraflow traffic at St. Stephen's Diocesan Center near the hairpin turn, using the two Kailua-bound lanes to get through the tunnels, DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said. The highway will remain closed to Kailua-bound traffic, Ishikawa said.

The contraflow will remain in operation until noon. At that point the highway will probably be reopened to Kailua-bound traffic, and it could be reopened both ways pending results of an inspection, Ishikawa said.

"I'm happy to hear that," Kailua resident and University Laboratory School interim principal Peter Estomago said last night. "It's a lot better than the option of going around to Likelike because the traffic is heavier there."

Windward-bound motorists are advised to use H-3 Freeway, Likelike Highway or Kalaniana'ole Highway through Waimanalo during the closure.

The city last night said city buses that normally use Pali Highway will continue to be diverted to Likelike Highway today. The affected routes are 55, 56, 57 and 65.

HEAVY TRAFFIC ON H-1

Traffic was heavy on H-1 Freeway yesterday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. as motorists coming out of downtown tried to reach Likelike Highway and H-3.

City Transportation Services Director Mel Kaku said officials extended the green-light traffic signal cycle on surface roads, such as North School Street, to help traffic flow. At one point, city officials advised motorists to expect delays of between 30 minutes to an hour.

"It wasn't bad on Likelike, I left at 6:40 and got home in 25 minutes, which is usual for me," said Brandon Makanoa, a Kamehameha Schools football player.

Kane'ohe resident Stephen Latimer left work early and headed for his Kane'ohe home.

With his kids' soccer practice canceled, Latimer found himself at a standstill in his car shortly before 3 p.m. near Vineyard Boulevard and Nu'uanu Avenue.

With a 15 year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 12 year-old eagerly discussing ways to pass the time, Latimer inched slowly toward an alternative route home.

"It's a mess. It's a parking lot," said Latimer, a project manager for a federal aid program, speaking on his cell phone. "(The kids) are trying to figure out what to do with all this free time but I'm afraid it's going to be spent in the car."

More than 45 Honolulu police officers, including the department's entire traffic division, were called in to work or asked to stay past their shifts to help with traffic management and road closures, police said.

"We're hoping a steady stream of people leaving town will prevent total gridlock, but with Mother Nature we just have to be patient," said police Maj. Susan Dowsett, head of HPD's traffic division and a 25-year Windward O'ahu resident. "Once the road is closed, it's closed; there is nothing you can do. I think the Windward people are pretty used to it."

FRUSTRATION MOUNTS

While motorists were more aware and prepared for traffic troubles after a massive gridlock created by a September closure of the westbound lanes of H-1 Freeway in 'Aiea, Windward residents were no less frustrated.

Chip Fletcher was flustered not only by the weather and the slow flow of O'ahu traffic, but by the inconsistent information put out about the roadways.

Fletcher, a professor and chairman of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, tried to leave work early yesterday to make it home to Kailua in time to take his son to a sports practice at 5 p.m.

But he had to see if his two children and wife also could head home early. His wife teaches at Punahou, where the two children go to school. He also had to figure out how to get a daughter to paddling practice in Hawai'i Kai.

"Why can't they just bulldoze it out of the way and open the darn Pali?" he asked.

Lance Fairly spent yesterday afternoon scrambling to find a ride home for his daughter who attends 'Iolani School. Fairly owns and operates Lance Fairly Art Gallery near Sacred Falls.

Fairly's daughter normally rides home with a friend, but that friend left early because of the Pali Highway closure, he said. Another family friend who drives a truck often gives his daughter, a 10th-grader, a ride but he, too, got off work early.

"I think a lot of people are getting off early just trying to get home over the mountain," Fairly said.

Staff writers Peter Boylan and Eloise Aguiar contributed to this report.