Traffic flowed smoothly the first night of the reconstruction of the Mahiko Street pedestrian overpass over the H-1 Freeway, and state transportation officials were hoping for more of the same last night.

There was no traffic backup as a result of lane closures on Monday night, according to state transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

"Traffic was pretty light by 9:30," he said. "I thought more people would be out shopping."

The only deviation from the original plan was that contractor Hawaiian Dredging chose to shut down the extreme left townbound lane as a precautionary measure, in addition to the two left 'Ewa-bound lanes.

The same three lanes were to be closed from 9 p.m. last night through 3:15 a.m. today.

Tonight and tomorrow, the two extreme right 'Ewa-bound lanes are expected to close during the same hours as the contractor preps the right side of the structure for Sunday.

That's when all of the freeway's 'ewa-bound lanes will be shut down from about 1:30 to 5 a.m. from the Halawa Interchange to the Waiau Interchange in Pearl City to allow for a crane to drop an 80-foot connecting slab weighing 60,000 pounds into place at the overpass.

During that time, motorists are advised to take either Moanalua Road or Kamehameha Highway.

The University of Hawai'i football game at nearby Aloha Stadium is expected to end about 10:30 or 11 Saturday night, but Ishikawa said he expects traffic to thin by the time the freeway begins to shut down.

No work is scheduled Friday and Saturday nights, assuming the weather holds up the next few nights and there are no other types of delays, Ishikawa said.

The construction is estimated to cost about $500,000. The bridge was damaged when an oversized load atop a military flatbed truck ran into the structure on Sept. 6.

The incident shut down the freeway and left many Leeward and Central O'ahu residents complaining about a long night of commuting.