State Transportation Department crews will spend the week cleaning up a 28-acre parcel under the Ke'ehi Interchange near the airport and in nearby spots after clearing more than 50 homeless people from the area yesterday.

Crews had hauled away about 13 truckloads of trash by yesterday afternoon.

The homeless were given eviction notices Friday.

By yesterday morning, most had already moved on, but a few were still packing up belongings and deciding where to head to next. Many decided to go to Living the Word Ministry on nearby Kilihau Street, where they were treated to a hot meal and given a chance to talk to a social worker who tried to link them up with services.

The ministry also offered up its parking lot as a place to sleep for the night.

The sweep came as the city and police have also been conducting their own sweeps of parks and other areas in recent weeks, including in Waimanalo and Mokule'ia.

Tammy Mori, state Transportation Department spokeswoman, said the last homeless sweep of the Ke'ehi interchange area was conducted in March 2007. The most recent sweep was done for public safety, Mori said, because the freeway interchange is no place to sleep and because of complaints about suspected criminal activity in the area.

"It's not safe for them (the homeless)," said Lt. Mike Oakland, commander of the state sheriff airport station. "It's not safe for the state workers."

Oakland said no arrests were made yesterday. But he said there has been drug dealing in the area and in previous sweeps several homeless people were arrested on outstanding warrants. He added that all those who were evicted yesterday were singles or couples.

"There were no families or children," Oakland said.

The area under the interchange has been a continuing problem for the state.

After previous sweeps, the state erected fences and warning signs.

But the fences were cut through and the signs ignored.

Ceandrys Black, of Living the Word Ministry, said the church had been working with those evicted yesterday in previous months to link them up with services and to address drug use by some.

"A lot of them are not on drugs. Some of them have jobs. You have a big variety of ages," she said. "They don't like being stereotyped."

Bob Custino, the DOT construction and maintenance superintendent, said his crews will likely work through the week cleaning up the site that was swept.

It is unclear how much of the trash belonged to the homeless.