When the state broke ground at Laniākea, the plan was for this to be the first big-wave season with a new road. Under that schedule, the North Shore would have moved into November with Kamehameha Highway shifted inland at the turtle beach, a parking area where beachgoers don't have to walk across traffic, and the old roadbed turned into a path for walking and biking.
That isn't happening. On October 17, Hawaii News Now reported that work at Laniākea has stopped after multiple burial sites were found. The state transportation director said the finish date could slip to 2028. So the 2026-27 season, which looks unusually crowded on the calendar, will play out on the same stretch of highway Haleʻiwa has always had.
Spring 2026 Came and Went at Laniākea
The Hawaii Department of Transportation describes it as moving about 1,000 feet of Kamehameha Highway inland between Lauhulu Stream Bridge and Pohakuloa Way. The goals it lists are pedestrian safety, shoreline erosion, congestion and roadway reliability. The work includes a new two-span bridge, grading, drainage, and new signs, lights, guardrails and landscaping. When it's done, the old highway becomes a pedestrian and bike path, and an improved parking area means beachgoers no longer have to cross moving traffic.
KHON reported that the project broke ground in January 2025, with Goodfellow Brothers as lead contractor and a $19.5 million price tag. Since then, HDOT has given three different finish dates:
- December 2024: HDOT's construction notice said work would start Monday, Dec. 9 and projected completion in Spring 2026.
- February 2025: A later HDOT update estimated Summer 2026.
- October 2026: Work stopped after the burial-site discoveries, with completion possibly pushed to 2028 and no restart date announced.
The latest delay is a different kind. Slipping from spring to summer is ordinary construction drift. A pause for human remains depends on a process that sets its own pace. State Rep. Sean Quinlan, who represents the area, told Hawaii News Now that "when we find human remains, we treat them with the utmost respect and follow all of our laws," and said there is no word on when construction will resume. With no restart date, there's no date to plan this winter around.
The Surf Calendar Is Crowded Into Early Winter
Because the road isn't changing this winter, the timing of events matters more. Most of the season's big dates fall between mid-November and the end of December.
Some of these dates are firmer than others. Rip Curl lists the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational window as December 6, 2026 through March 4, 2027, with an opening ceremony at Waimea Bay on December 3. The World Surf League lists Lexus Pipe Masters for December 8–20, 2026. The City's Department of Parks and Recreation surf event calendar covers September 2026 through May 2027. It assigns blocks of permitted contest days to North Shore events, but those are allocations. They don't tell you which days a contest will actually run.
Here's how the surf dates line up with what's happening in town and up the road at Waimea Valley:
| Weeks | Surf on the calendar | In Haleʻiwa and Waimea Valley |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 15–28 | Sunset Pro permit days | La ʻOhana kamaʻāina day, Sun. Nov. 15. Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Sat. Nov. 28. Christmas Tree Lighting Festival, Sat. Nov. 28 |
| Nov. 29–Dec. 12 | Haleiwa Pro permit days. Eddie opening ceremony Dec. 3, window opens Dec. 6. Lexus Pipe Masters begins Dec. 8 | Haleʻiwa Christmas Parade and Prince Lot Kapuāiwa Birthday, both Fri. Dec. 11 |
| Dec. 13–26 | Lexus Pipe Masters through Dec. 20. Vans Pipe Masters permit days through Dec. 26. Haleiwa International Open permit days begin Dec. 20 | Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop Birthday, Sat. Dec. 19. La ʻOhana, Sun. Dec. 20 |
| Dec. 27–Jan. 9 | Haleiwa International Open permit days. Eddie window open | Waimea Valley's regular Saturday plant sales |
The busiest single day is Friday, December 11. It falls in the last days of the Haleiwa Pro permit block, inside the official Pipe Masters window, and inside the Eddie window. That evening, the North Shore Chamber of Commerce holds the 24th Annual Haleʻiwa Christmas Parade on historic Haleʻiwa's main street, and the street closes to traffic at 5:30 p.m. The Chamber's page lists the parade as 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in its announcement but 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in its summary box, so check the time with the Chamber that week. Earlier that same day, Waimea Valley marks Prince Lot Kapuāiwa's birthday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, November 28 is also crowded. Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Hawaiian Independence Day, runs at Waimea Valley from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. That evening, the Chamber's Christmas Tree Lighting Festival takes place on the Great Lawn at North Shore Market Place. The listing doesn't give a time yet.
The Proposed Fix Would Bring Visitors Into Town
Without a restart date, the current debate is over a stopgap. Rep. Quinlan wants the new Laniākea parking lot reserved for locals, with shuttles carrying visitors to see the turtles. As he told Hawaii News Now: "We want to find a spot that's just outside of Haleiwa for them to park, put them in a bus, take them to Lani's and have them come back. That's the goal, to get rental cars off the road." He pointed to the shuttle on Kauaʻi's North Shore as the model.
The town's business community supports the idea. Carol Philips of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce told the station, "We like the idea of getting visitors to park in Haleiwa, shop in Haleiwa, take a shuttle, which doesn't impact the traffic as much, go and have their turtle experience." If the shuttle happens, Haleʻiwa becomes the place visitors park and wait for a ride to Laniākea, not a town they pass through. For now, the locals-only lot and the shuttle are proposals. Neither has a start date for this winter.
The City has a separate project on Haleʻiwa's own stretch of road. Its Kamehameha Highway shoulder project would run between ʻŌpaeʻula Bridge, known as Twin Bridge, and Anahulu River Bridge. The City's Complete Streets page expected the project to go to bid in the third quarter of 2026 and gives no completion date. For week-to-week lane closures, HDOT posts a weekly Oʻahu roadwork bulletin. The October 17–23 list included a Haleʻiwa-bound lane closure between Waimea Valley Road and Kapuhi Street for utility upgrades.
Haleʻiwa's Midweek Markets
Some of the season's events are held inside Haleʻiwa town, and two of them happen midweek.
The North Shore Country Market runs Wednesdays from 1 to 6 p.m. at Liliuokalani Protestant Church, 66-090 Kamehameha Highway. The Chamber says the market has been going for more than 30 years. The Haleʻiwa Farmers Market runs Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. on the Waialua Community Association's Historic Haleʻiwa Gym property at 66-434 Kamehameha Highway. Both markets are close to the center of town.
Up the road, Waimea Valley has several regular and dated events in the run-up to the contest weeks:
- Every Saturday: Plant Sale at the Nursery, 8 a.m. to noon.
- Every third Sunday: La ʻOhana, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with 50% off kamaʻāina admission. Coming dates are November 15, December 20 and January 17.
- Saturday, November 7: Arbor Day at the Cullen Lot, 8 a.m. to noon.
- Wednesday, November 11: Makahiki Festival, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Arbor Day and the Makahiki Festival both come before the first permitted contest block starts on November 15. The Wednesday Country Market and Thursday farmers market keep running through the whole season. With work at Laniākea stopped and no restart date, all of these events will happen on the highway as it is today.
If the stalled Laniākea project has you wondering what a 2028 finish, or a shuttle stop near town, could mean for a home or rental you own on the North Shore, Chip Lewis can go through it with you using current numbers. Work directly with Chip. Start your search or get a valuation.