Sinkhole closes Koko Head entrance to Ala Moana Regional Park
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COURTESY HONOLULU DEPT. OF PARKS AND RECREATION
The Atkinson Drive entrance to Ala Moana Regional Park is closed due to a sinkhole. Exiting vehicles should turn around at Magic Island.
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COURTESY HONOLULU.GOV
A traffic camera shows police blocking off the entrance to Ala Moana Regional Park near Atkinson Drive today because of a sinkhole.
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Police closed the Koko Head entrance to Ala Moana Regional Park Wednesday because of a sinkhole.
The road was closed near Atkinson Drive at about 4 p.m.
Nathan Serota, spokesman for the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said there was no hole in the road’s surface, but a void beneath the road was causing a depression about a couple of feet wide in the middle of the street. Cones were placed over the sinkhole when it was noticed in the morning, and the road was closed after the depression continued to grow.
The road will remain closed until a contractor can inspect the sinkhole, possibly as early as today, and determine the cause, Serota said.
In July last year, a sinkhole shut down the Ewa entrance to the park near Kamakee Street. Shortly after that sinkhole appeared, only a small hole was visible on the surface of the pavement, but officials said about 4 feet of road had been undermined beneath Ala Moana Park Drive.
Serota said that sinkhole was caused by leaking drainage pipes beneath the roadway. The 48-inch pipes, which convey tidal waters from Kewalo Basin Harbor to the lagoon inside the park, were repaired.