Every weekday between 8:30 in the morning and 3:30 in the afternoon, Hāna Highway shuts down between mile markers 38 and 39. The County of Maui has been running this closure since mid-June while crews work the slope at Kālepa Point, and it is set to continue for about five months, which puts the likely end sometime around mid-November. That timeline means the closure is still running through October 17 to 24, the exact week Hāna hosts its leg of Festivals of Aloha.
Nobody planned it that way. The road project and the festival calendar were set by two different offices working on two different timelines, and they happen to overlap for one week this fall. If you live past Kālepa and you're headed into town for anything tied to Festival Week, the same daytime window the county blocks off for rockfall netting is the window you'd otherwise use to get there.
The Two Clocks Running This Month
The Kālepa Rockfall Netting Replacement project involves clearing vegetation, removing loose rock, replacing damaged rockfall barriers, and installing new protective mesh and anchors along the slope. During work hours the road is closed to through traffic in both directions between those two mile markers, though emergency vehicles are still allowed to pass. Outside the 8:30 to 3:30 window, on evenings, nights and weekends, the stretch reopens to normal traffic. The County of Maui's Department of Public Works has the project details posted directly, and the DPW Engineering Office takes calls at 808-270-7845 if the schedule shifts.
Festivals of Aloha runs its Hāna celebration October 17 through 24 this year, under the islandwide 2026 theme "Ea Mai Ke Kai Mai," tied to Governor Green's declaration of 2026 as the Year of Our Coastal Kuleana. The tradition itself goes back more than 75 years as a Maui Nui institution, with separate legs held in Wailuku, Wailea and Makawao alongside Hāna's own week. Hāna-Maui Resort, Hāna Community Association and Hāna Arts are among the sponsors and partners listed for this year's islandwide celebration, alongside dozens of other Maui organizations.
What the Closure Actually Blocks
Mile markers 38 to 39 fall south of Hāna town, on the stretch where Hāna Highway continues toward Kīpahulu before it becomes the Piʻilani Highway. The county's own release describes it simply as a remote section of county roadway in East Maui. During the closure window, that stretch becomes a hard stop rather than a slow patch. If your errand, appointment or festival plan falls inside 8:30 to 3:30 on a weekday and requires crossing that half-mile, the road simply isn't open to you until 3:30, unless it's an emergency.
The practical workaround is timing. Morning trips before 8:30 or afternoon trips after 3:30 clear the closure without incident. Weekends are unaffected entirely, since the project only runs Monday through Friday. The complication is that Festival Week includes weekday programming, so anyone timing a visit to Hāna's celebration around a midday event needs to check whether that event falls before, during or after the closure window rather than assuming the highway behaves the way it does most weekends.
The Weekly Rhythm Underneath It All
None of this changes what actually happens day to day in town. Hāna's food and market rhythm keeps running on its own schedule, closure or not.
| Day | What's running | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Hāna Fresh Market, 3:00–6:00 pm | 4590 Hāna Highway |
| Thursday | Hāna Fresh Market, 11:00 am–3:00 pm | 4590 Hāna Highway |
| Friday | Hāna Farmers Market, 2:30–5:30 pm | Hāna Town Center Field, below Hāna Ranch Restaurant |
| Daily | Ono Organic Farms fruit stand | next to the Hāna gas station |
The Friday market sits in the field below Hāna Ranch Restaurant and draws from small growers throughout the valley, hyper-local produce grown by the people who live there. Hāna Fresh Market runs a shorter, more errand-friendly schedule twice a week, useful for anyone who can't make the Friday window.
The Highway Fixtures Beyond the Market
Past the two organized markets, the highway itself carries its own lineup of stops that residents already know by name. Ono Organic Farms, the longtime family farm featured on Gordon Ramsay's Uncharted, runs its bright yellow surfboard-marked fruit stand daily, with breadfruit, pineapple, starfruit, lilikoi and guava depending on the week. Hāna Farms operates both a small market and café along with an adjoining grill known for burgers and plates built around Maui beef and Hāna-caught fish. Da Fish Shack, down the highway, has built its reputation on fish and chips and rotating fresh-catch specials. Across from Hāna Ranch Store, the red truck and umbrellas belong to Ae's Thai, serving pad Thai, curry and coconut-crusted mahi.
None of these businesses close for the highway project. They sit outside the closure zone at mile markers 38-39, so the daily rhythm of stopping for lunch or picking up produce continues regardless of what's happening up the road.
What This Means If You Live Here
The practical read for October is straightforward. Time weekday trips through Kālepa Point before 8:30 am or after 3:30 pm, and treat that window as fixed rather than flexible, since it applies through the middle of November barring an early wrap on the netting work. If a Festival Week event on the Hāna side of town falls inside that window and you live or work past the closure, plan to arrive early or wait it out, since emergency vehicles are the only exception the county has built in.
The closure doesn't touch weekends, so weekend festival programming runs without the complication. The Friday market starts at 2:30 pm and Monday's Hāna Fresh Market at 3:00 pm, before the weekday closure ends at 3:30; anyone traveling through the work zone for either should plan around that overlap. The weekday stretch of Festival Week runs October 19 through 23.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Does the closure affect weekend traffic at all? No. The Kālepa closure only runs Monday through Friday during the stated daytime hours. Weekends have full access.
What if there's an emergency during the closure window? Emergency vehicles are allowed to pass through the work zone regardless of the 8:30 to 3:30 schedule, according to the county's own release on the project.
When does the closure actually end? The county's June announcement estimated about five months of weekday closures, which points to mid-November as the likely close-out, though DPW has said the schedule could shift and residents can call the Engineering Office directly at 808-270-7845 for the latest.
Where can I check for real-time updates if my plans depend on it? The State Department of Transportation posts weekly lane closure updates for Hāna Highway alongside the county's own project page, both worth a quick check before a trip that depends on timing.
Living in Hāna means holding two calendars in your head at once this month, the county's and the community's, and neither one moves for the other. If you're weighing what year-round life actually looks like out here, from festival weeks to the quieter stretches between them, Maui & Co. knows the East Maui rhythm well enough to walk you through it. Schedule a private consultation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.
