HONOLULU — The Department of Land and Natural Resources will close the Diamond Head State Monument beginning Monday, Nov. 17, through Thursday, Nov. 20, to remove rockfall hazards above the Kahala entrance tunnel to the crater.

"To ensure public safety, the tunnel, and the entire park will have to be closed while this work takes place," said Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairwoman. The park entrance at Diamond Head Road will be closed to all vehicle and foot traffic.

On Thursday, Nov. 20 the contractor will do a final sweep of the look-out trail, general clean-up and demobilization of the park. Diamond Head State Monument, including the summit hiking trail, will reopen on Friday Nov. 21 as scheduled.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources has closed the historic summit trail at Diamond Head State Monument, for a month — from Oct. 20 to Nov. 20, 2008 — to conduct maintenance of the slopes and rock scaling of potential rockfall hazards along the trail and above the entrance tunnel. The contractor for this maintenance project is Prometheus Construction. The total construction contract is for $384,000.

DLNR continues to work with the Office of State Tourism Liaison, Hawai'i Tourism Authority and other visitor industry organizations to inform hotels, taxi, bus and rental car transportation companies, and other visitor industry businesses of these closures. Signage is also posted at the park entrance.

The department has worked with the Diamond Head Citizens' Advisory Committee, and notified The Bus, and other community and user organizations, posted notices at the park entrance and distributed flyers to frequent park users at the park information booth.

The maintenance of these areas is the first phase of the state's planned upgrades to the historic summit trail at Diamond Head State Monument.

Subsequent phases will include the Diamond Head Trail Improvements Project, now currently in design, which will improve sections of the trail that have deteriorated due to usage, age and weathering. Improvements will address the narrow corridors and other trail sections that have deteriorated; and install safer stairways and wider walkways, install slope stabilization and rockfall mitigation measures, and construct a loop trail connecting the Summit Lookout and the rest-stop landing at the top of the pedestrian tunnel.

Future phases of the Trail Improvement Project will also decrease hiker congestion on the Summit Trail by expanding the existing trail for safer walkways, stairways, and lookouts.

Future phases of the rockfall mitigation and slope stabilization project will include work along Diamond Head Road and Poka Place.

For more information, please contact State Parks at 587-0300, or visit the State Parks Web site at www.hawaiistateparks.org.