The Kamehameha Highway on-ramp to the Honolulu-bound H-3 at Halekou Interchange has been closed around the clock since June 15, 2026. In June, the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation said it would reopen in August. In September the estimate became mid-October. HDOT's Oʻahu lane-closure schedule for the week of Nov. 7 through Nov. 13 still shows it closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The newer date to watch is HDOT's target for finishing the whole repair. That target has also moved, from November to December 2026. Kāneʻohe's holiday calendar runs from mid-November through December. That puts the Christmas Parade, a Dec. 5 craft fair, Santa's December weekends at Windward Mall and a Palikū Theatre holiday concert all inside the month HDOT has set to finish the work. For now, no date is posted for reopening the ramp. Holiday plans that need the Honolulu-bound H-3 from the Pali-bound side of Kamehameha Highway should assume the detour is still in place.
Two estimates have passed
Both reopening estimates appear in HDOT's own releases:
- June 18, 2026. HDOT announced the emergency closure, saying further erosion of the pipes and culvert under the ramp had been found on June 15. It expected the ramp to reopen in August, local access on Kiʻonaʻole Road by the end of July, and the full repair to be done in November.
- Sept. 3, 2026. HDOT announced that Kiʻonaʻole Road had reopened. It moved the ramp's reopening to mid-October and the full repair to December.
- Week of Nov. 7 to Nov. 13. HDOT's weekly schedule still lists the ramp closed "for the duration of the emergency culvert repairs."
The damage dates back to the spring. HDOT says the Kona lows and heavy rain of March and April 2026 broke an underground culvert at Halekou Interchange along Kiʻonaʻole Road. The roadway lost structural support, and the slope and embankment were left unstable. The repair is more than a patch. It covers removing the old roadway and culverts, digging a new concrete-lined drainage channel, installing reinforced box culverts, stabilizing the slope, moving utilities and rebuilding the road.
The neighborhood board has been tracking the same work. At its Aug. 20 meeting, the Kāneʻohe Neighborhood Board's minutes recorded that ramp paving "appeared close to completion." By the Sept. 17 meeting, the board's minutes said paving was still underway near the ramp:
"a reopening date is not yet known"
Kiʻonaʻole Road reopened, with flaggers at times
The road beside the ramp is back in service, which matters for anyone heading to places along it. HDOT says Kiʻonaʻole Road reopened to all motorists on Aug. 17, and the detour through Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden was retired on Aug. 23. For most of the summer, getting to Koʻolau Ballrooms meant going around by Luluku Road and through the garden's park access road. Now the venue at 45-550 Kionaole Road can be reached directly again.
The road is open, though work is still going on there. Crews work daytime hours of 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and nighttime hours of 5 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., seven days a week. During work hours, flaggers may switch traffic to one lane at a time in alternating directions, especially while channel wall forms go in or concrete is poured. The current weekly schedule still lists that alternating-lane setup on Kiʻonaʻole Road between Kahiko Street and the H-3 overpass, as needed, day and night. If you're arriving for an evening event, allow time for a flagger stop.
The detour after five months
From the southbound lanes of Kamehameha Highway, the detour runs like this. Drive toward Halekou Interchange. Use the left lane to make a U-turn at the turn into the eastbound H-3 on-ramp. Once you're on the northbound side, keep right and take the westbound H-3 on-ramp. Likelike Highway remains HDOT's listed alternate. When the closure began in June, KHON2 reported the same U-turn and Likelike options as replacements for a familiar commuting route.
This week the detour route has extra work on it. HDOT has scheduled a single-lane closure on northbound Kamehameha Highway between Kahiko Street and the westbound H-3 on-ramp from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on several weekdays, including Thursday, Nov. 12. That is the stretch drivers use after the U-turn. On the freeway, the left shoulder of the Honolulu-bound H-3 at the Kamehameha Highway intersection is closed for storm drain clearing on the same hours, Monday through Friday. HDOT is not scheduling lane closures on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, unless a closure is specially permitted. The schedule changes week to week, and HDOT posts each new week's closures on its Oʻahu lane closures page.
The season's dates
Most of the holiday events are in town, along Kamehameha Highway and Kāneʻohe Bay Drive, well away from Halekou. The ramp matters for visitors driving in over H-3 and for residents headed into Honolulu between events. Here are the dated events posted for 2026:
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 13–14, 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 15, 3 p.m. | "Everyday Heroes of Hawaiʻi" | Palikū Theatre, Windward Community College |
| Nov. 14, 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. | Kaneohe Holiday Craft and Gift Fair, listed | Windward City Shopping Center |
| Nov. 21, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. | Kaneohe Craft Fair, listed | Parker United Methodist Church, 45-211 Waikalua Road |
| Nov. 21, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. | Santa's arrival | Windward Mall Center Court |
| Dec. 5, 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. road closures | 62nd Kāneʻohe Christmas Parade | Windward Mall to Castle High School |
| Dec. 5, 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. | 808 Craft and Gift Fair | Windward City Shopping Center |
| Dec. 11, 7 p.m. | "Makana Mele" with Keauhou and Hālau Mōhala ʻIlima | Palikū Theatre, Windward Community College |
Both Palikū Theatre shows have pages on Windward Community College's events calendar. The two Nov. 14 and Nov. 21 craft fairs come from third-party event listings, so check with the organizers before you go.
Windward Mall runs a steady schedule on top of those dates. Santa photos are offered from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m. on Nov. 21 and Nov. 27–29, then Dec. 4–6, Dec. 11–13 and every day from Dec. 18 through Dec. 24. Pet photos are on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 13 and 20. The mall is closed Thanksgiving Day, opens 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Black Friday, and closes at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The Plenty of Aloha Farmers Market runs Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesdays from 2 to 6 p.m., with dates on its calendar through Dec. 30.
The mall has one fewer place to sit down for a meal this season. Big City Diner's Windward Mall location served its last customers on Oct. 31 after 11 years, KHON2 reported. The company said staff would move to its three other locations.
Up the hill, Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden's regular hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed Thursdays, Christmas Day and New Year's Day, which takes it off the list for Thanksgiving week guests on Thursday, Nov. 26. The city also holds drawing and painting sessions on Tuesday mornings and fishing on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Crews treated palm trees for coconut rhinoceros beetles there in early November, so check the city's garden page before a visit.
Saturday, Dec. 5
The calendar's busiest morning is the first Saturday of the month HDOT has set for finishing the culvert repair. The 62nd Kāneʻohe Christmas Parade starts at Windward Mall and ends at Castle High School. The city's 2026 street-use list shows the route leaving Windward Mall at Haiku Road and running along Kamehameha Highway and Kāneʻohe Bay Drive. Roads close at 9 a.m. and are expected to reopen around 12:30 p.m. The city lists the permit application as submitted.
That same morning, Honolulu Magazine lists the 808 Craft and Gift Fair at Windward City Shopping Center from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with free admission. Santa is taking photos at Windward Mall that day too. All three events are on or near the parade route, which is closed until midday. If you plan to go to more than one on Dec. 5, figure out ahead of time which side of Kamehameha Highway you'll park on.
Coming in from Honolulu that morning, the Kāneʻohe-bound H-3 isn't affected by the ramp closure, since the closed ramp only serves traffic heading toward Honolulu. Leaving in the afternoon is the trip with the extra step. Unless HDOT has reopened the ramp by then, drivers coming down Kamehameha Highway still need the U-turn at Halekou or the Likelike Highway route. The September release puts the overall repair finish in December 2026, and HDOT says all of the work depends on the weather.
The windward apartment market changes in its own small ways. A rebuilt culvert, a new detour or a closed restaurant can each affect how a building on this side of the Koʻolau performs over a year. Commercial Investment Strategies underwrites Kāneʻohe apartment buildings on current conditions like these, not on last year's comps. If you own one and want to know where it stands heading into 2026's final weeks, ask Christina: what's your property worth?