The concrete barriers that have blocked cars from parking at popular Laniakea Beach for the past year and a half must be removed under a new court order — but it’s not certain yet that they’ll stay gone for good.

State Circuit Judge Gary Chang issued a preliminary injunction Thursday after expressing concerns that the barriers, which stretch nearly 1,000 feet along the mauka side of Kamehameha Highway, were “obliterating” access to park on city park land there. Chang called the situation “unacceptable.”

The state Department of Transportation will have 30 days to remove the barriers once Chang’s order becomes official.

Chang’s injunction could be lifted, however, if Honolulu city officials give the state permission to block parking on that city-owned land, or if the state acquires a coastal Special Management Area permit and other approvals for the barriers.

The move is a win — for now — for the Save Laniakea Coalition, a group of North Shore residents, surfers and activists who sued last year to remove the barriers. The group includes big-wave surfing champion Reno Abellira and North Shore community activist Blake McElheny.

“It’s not kosher to take public parking away without allowing public input into the process,” Honolulu-based attorney Bill Saunders, who represents Save Laniakea, said after the hearing. “Bureaucrats who never go to the beach or never go up there and surf shouldn’t be allowed to willy-nilly close parks that the public has relied on and used for many, many years.”

Saunders added that the group would sue the city if it allowed the state to continue block parking at Laniakea.

Both John Price, the lawyer representing DOT, and the state attorney general’s office declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing. They said that they needed to examine Chang’s injunction more closely first.

Save Laniakea, city and state officials might discuss leaving most of the barriers up, using them to create an entrance and exit for vehicles to park on the city property. But similar talks before the barriers ever went up failed because the city was worried about its liability there, officials say.

Laniakea draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to surf the break and marvel at the honu, or turtles, that swim ashore there. The scene would often get chaotic with tour buses blocking the shoulder and no designated areas for pedestrians to cross the highway.

The barriers were installed after years of study, community discussion and about $1.7 million in state funding — but little action.

Despite votes against the idea by the North Shore Neighborhood Board and a Laniakea Task Force, the DOT installed what were supposed to be temporary barriers at Laniakea. The agency said it wanted to see whether they helped curb the worsening traffic along the North Shore.

Opponents say the measure is more of a punishment than an acceptable solution for the traffic, and that the barriers unfairly block public access to the beach.

Some North Shore residents say the barriers have helped the traffic. Opponents say they’ve only pushed the traffic problem farther down the highway. DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara said the agency’s data show that conditions have improved since the state erected the barriers but was unable to provide documents late Thursday. Saunders said the state still hasn’t provided him with results of its study.

In its suit, Save Laniakea argues that the state needed to get an SMA permit and conduct environmental assessments before it installed the barriers. The group asserts that the barriers are actually part of a long-term project to eventually realign Kamehameha Highway farther back from the ocean there.

The state, meanwhile, says the barriers, which were installed in December 2013, are a separate short-term measure to ease traffic.

On Thursday, however, Chang made clear that he’s mainly worried about the access to the park land — and that the state secures proper city approvals if it blocks that access.

“That is of greater concern as I sit here today,” Chang said.