An early morning crash that broke a utility pole left about 100 Ka'a'awa residents without power until almost noon and closed both lanes of Kamehameha Highway for eight hours.

Initially, Hawaiian Electric Co. cut the power to about 500 homes after a Cackle Fresh Egg Farm truck struck a pole at about 5:16 yesterday morning about 200 yards past the Kane'ohe side of Ka'a'awa Elementary School, said Darren Pai, spokesman for HECO.

There were no injuries in the single-vehicle crash.

Kamehameha Highway is the primary artery to the city for hundreds of Windward and North Shore residents, and though no serious problems were reported as a result of the road closure right before morning rush hour, there was plenty of inconvenience to go around.

It started with the power outage.

"Because of the damage to the pole and the fact that lines were very close to the ground, power needed to be shut off for safety," Pai said. "There was a temporary outage for 500 and within half an hour about 400 came back when we rerouted the power."

The remaining customers had to go without because HECO doesn't have an alternate circuit to deliver power to them, he said.

Power was restored just after 11 a.m. and HECO crews were finished by 5:30 p.m., Pai said. Hawaiian Tel spokeswoman Ann Nishida said that its crews finished restringing their lines around 6 p.m.

Meanwhile, some people waited for the road to open, but others took the North Shore route to work and appointments.

DeeDee Letts, a Ko'olauloa Neighborhood Board member, said she couldn't understand what the holdup was, so she walked down the street to where police were stationed to find out.

"When I went out at 8:30, 9 a.m. and talked to the police, the police said HECO doesn't even have a crew here yet," said Letts, who was supposed to have attended a conference at the East-West Center and had material for it in her car. "The last time the road was closed, it was closed for a couple of hours before HECO even got a crew out here. What's the problem with their response time?"

Pai said a troubleshooter went out immediately after the crash was reported and a construction and maintenance crew was there around 8 a.m.

"One of the complicating factors that is blocking traffic is the tow truck that's trying to remove the (crashed) truck," he said. "It's taking longer than expected and blocking traffic pretty extensively out there."

A contraflow lane opened shortly after 1 p.m.

The lack of electricity didn't close Ka'a'awa Elementary School, but it did concern students who were waiting for a bus to take them on an excursion to the water park, said Darron Maiava, the school's custodian.

"We had to walk them along the beach to get them to the buses," Maiava said. "They were safe."

Many of the teachers live farther out from the school, so they were not affected by the crash but the principal had to walk in, he said.

"It didn't affect the whole school other than we had no lights," Maiava said. "Only if we're without water do we close."

Kamehameha Highway along the Windward Coast is a two-lane road with speed limit of 35 mph. When there is a road closure, residents must travel the longer distance through the North Shore to get to their destination. Sometimes traffic can be rerouted through the back roads of a community but this couldn't be done yesterday.

Sunny Greer, who lives in Kahana Valley, said the road closures are the price she pays to live in paradise and it's worth it. She said she had to travel via the North Shore to attend a meeting in town but had to cancel her son's eye appointment.

Greer, a law student, said she prefers the two-lane highway and the open, undeveloped country as opposed to the urbanization on the other side of the island.

"That drive is just a mere inconvenience to the richness we are all lucky to have," she said.