Traffic moved smoothly in Kealakekua yesterday afternoon, even as motorists tested out the Mamalahoa bypass for the official start of its 60-day test.

Between about 4:15 and 5:40 p.m., cars on Halekii Street attempting to access Mamalahoa Highway backed up no farther than the first entrance to the Kealakekua Post Office, and generally waited no longer than one traffic light cycle to make either a right or a left turn.

Public Works Traffic Division Chief Ron Thiel said yesterday he expected about one-third of the southbound afternoon traffic — about 250 to 300 cars an hour — to use the bypass. He noted that while that many vehicles had not yet tested out the new route, the time was still a little early for peak traffic. He also expected to see more people using the bypass in a few days or weeks.

By 5:30 p.m., however, traffic was still flowing smoothly both on Halekii Street and headed back into Kailua, Kona. Motorists still plodded through the "Kainaliu crawl," the backup of vehicles from Honalo Junction into Kainaliu at about 4 p.m., but motorists reported little traffic backup elsewhere. By 5:45 p.m., no bumper-to-bumper traffic was seen between Kealakekua and Kailua, Kona.

Thiel said he regularly performs time delay studies, timing his drive from Honalo Junction to the Aloha Theater. Last week, the drive took 5 1/2 minutes, he said. Yesterday, it took 4 minutes, though he said a variety of factors could have influenced the time difference.

The only problem officers and Public Works employees monitoring various intersections between Keauhou and the top of Halekii Street reported was motorists running the temporary stop signals at the intersection of Alii Drive and Kaleiopapa Street. Thiel instructed workers to install more measures to catch drivers' attention before yesterday's test run finished.