HONOLULU — The Hawaii Department of Transportation announced that the Zipper Lane will be open for morning commuters on Thursday. The agency stated in news release Wednesday that adjustments were made to a secondary Zipmobile “and it is confident that it can open and close the Zipper Lane reliably.” The Zipper Lane is usually open between 5:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays.
The Zipper Lane, which is typically open in the eastbound direction of the H-1 between the Manager’s Drive Overpass and the Keehi Interchange, adding lanes to those lanes, was closed on Tuesday because of mechanical issues with the HDOT’s three Zipmobiles.
The Zipper Lane has been in operation since 1998 and was expanded to two lanes in August 2016 for vehicles with two or more occupants, motorcycles and vehicles with electric vehicle plates. It adds two lanes for multi-occupant vehicles through the busiest section of the eastbound H-1 Freeway.