The state will likely consider trimming and removing trees along Pali Highway after wrapping up a similar tree-trimming project along Likelike Highway, officials said yesterday following the shutdown of the Pali because of a fallen tree.

Traffic was backed up for about four hours yesterday morning when a 30-foot tree slammed into the town-bound lanes, hitting several cars and sending two people to the hospital.

Concerns about incidents like yesterday's are what prompted the Department of Transportation to trim and cut back trees along O'ahu's highways, DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said yesterday.

Beginning mid-January, about 200 trees will be removed or trimmed back along the Likelike route, starting with Kalihi Valley, where half a dozen trees fell in 2007.

In October, the DOT planted more than 50 trees along H-2 Freeway in place of dozens of albizzia trees it removed during the summer.

The DOT will work with groups such as the Outdoor Circle and an arborist to determine which trees along Pali Highway are too heavy or damaged by rot or termites.

Yesterday's traffic mess occurred after the tree fell around 6:40 a.m.

For a while, police diverted town-bound drivers onto upper Nu'uanu Pali Drive and allowed them back on Pali Highway where it connects with lower Nu'uanu Pali Drive.

But the backup developed so quickly and was so extensive that police eventually closed off all town-bound lanes at Castle Junction and only allowed city buses onto the Pali.

All lanes were reopened at 10 a.m.

Five cars were damaged when the tree fell. Two of them were clipped by branches and one was crushed when the bulk of the tree fell on it. Two people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, police said.

Two other drivers drove into the fallen tree, which was about 14 inches in diameter.

Kailua resident Liborio Cardenas, 36, saw the tree crash into the road about 5 feet in front of him.

He slammed into it at about 35 mph, damaging the hood of his red pickup truck and hitting his hand when the truck's air bag inflated.

"I tried to stop or drive towards the mountain," he said. "I hit the tree because I didn't want to hit the car in front of me."

Cardenas spent yesterday afternoon surveying the damage to his truck and figuring out what to do next.

"Somebody has to pay for my truck," he said.

Most Windward residents had to take alternative routes to work yesterday.

It took Rieko Ogata, 26, more than an hour to get from her home in Olomana to her office near Ala Moana.

Through the heavy rain and traffic, Ogata listened for details on the radio but said she had little idea about what was going on as police directed her car onto Nu'uanu Pali Drive.

"It was raining really, really hard," she said. "When I got to work, everyone asked if I was OK."

The reopening of the roads was delayed as a DOT maintenance crew worked to clear away the debris.

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