After a first-day traffic jam, state transportation officials are making adjustments to their road repair schedule at Castle Junction.

Starting today, repaving work on the Kailua-bound lanes of Kalaniana'ole Highway will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., state officials said.

That's an hour and a half later than the original schedule, which went into effect yesterday.

Starting work at 7 a.m., however, backed up morning rush-hour traffic on nearby Kamehameha Highway, where traffic had to wait longer than usual to turn onto Kalaniana'ole Highway, Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.

"We tried to start a little earlier so that we could be done in time for the afternoon rush hour," Ishikawa said. "It turned out that caused a backlog of turning cars, though."

The new schedule will avoid the morning crush and still have workers off the road in time for the Kailua-bound traffic heading home from work, he said.

Work on repaving Kalaniana'ole Highway in both directions between Castle Junction and Kapa'a Quarry Road is expected to last about seven months.

Nighttime work on the project is not allowed because it would disturb the nesting habits of nearby endangered shearwater birds, Ishikawa said.

Meanwhile, the first day of the state's town-bound morning contraflow lane on Likelike Highway went much more smoothly. Traffic moved swiftly throughout the Wilson Tunnel all morning, Ishikawa said.

The town-bound lanes of the tunnel will be closed for one month to allow crews to install a new concrete road surface, Ishikawa said.

Morning town-bound traffic will be contraflowed through the Kane'ohe-bound tunnel from 4 a.m. to noon. The Kane'ohe-bound side will be open to motorists between 1 p.m. and 3 a.m. weekdays and 24 hours on weekends.

About 30,000 motorists make their way through the tunnel each day, according to Department of Transportation.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.