Drivers dealt with delays again on Wilikina Drive Tuesday morning, but the backlog wasn't as bad as Monday's snarled mess.

"Buses turning around, taking kids back home, people taking two hours to get to work," said Christina Miccarelli.

"We had to turn around because my truck was running out of gas, so it was a while," said Zachariah Thompson.

Part of that was due to police presence being stepped up.

It was smoother for Haleiwa resident Richard Romano who failed to reach his doctor's appointment in town on Monday after two hours in traffic.

"There was no warning.  You saw a sign saying bridge down for a couple of weeks but you didn't know it was going to be this bad," said Romano.

More police officers were deployed at major intersections directing traffic and moving drivers along.

The root cause of the this problem is the state's decision to close Wahiawa's Karsten Thot bridge for repair work over the next six weeks --  a decision that wasn't announced until last Thursday.

"They should've done it in the summer while the kids were out of school and they should've done it before that place in Wahiawa opened up," said Miccarelli.

Crews are removing rust, reinforcing steel plates, and re-painting the 80-year-old bridge.  Work will continue day and night and on weekends for about six weeks.