MAILI, Hawaii (KHON2) -- A multi-car collision early Friday, Nov. 15 in West Oahu left one man in critical condition and two others injured. The pile-up snarled traffic for hours. Lawmakers said it's exactly why they need to open emergency access roads permanently. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Farrington Highway traffic was bumper-to-bumper for miles as thousands of West side residents started their Friday. The gridlock was due to a seven-car accident near the 7-Eleven in Nanakuli. The severity of the crash prevented police from clearing it for hours to investigate. Critical injuries in Nanakuli crash "I got on the road about 6:15 a.m. and I knew immediately when I got out of my house, that there was an accident because the traffic was almost backed up all the way to where I live," Honolulu City Councilmember Andria Tupola explained. So she sprang into action to get Paakea Road, one of several emergency bypass roads, open to help the flow of traffic. But she said it's not the first time Farrington Highway turned into a parking lot rendering residents hopeless. "That's like lost wages, that's kids not going to school, that's babysitting time. For some people, that's their dialysis appointment. For some people, it's missing a flight," she explained. "We can't be having this road and then fight over what we deem as an emergency. If people are literally stuck in areas, we need to open up the roads and unclog, you know, and allow people the ability to move around in the community, get to and from where they need to go." "It highlights now more than ever we need that access road just full-time open," Rep. Darius Kila explained. "So in the next several months, our residents can look forward to that." According to Kila, Paakea Road will be open 24/7 starting this spring. "We're working on widening, we're working on the upgrades and memorandum that it's only for an emergency use," Kila explained. Tupola agrees having Paakea Road open permanently is a step in the right direction. But she wants other emergency bypass roads open, like Kolekole Pass, especially after the Lahaina wildfires. "I do think that that's something that all of us feel like could happen at any given point in time, and because we have a high vulnerability to heat two possible potential wildfires, there is no doubt that we are going to need, you know, access to something like this and have a plan," Tupola said. Check out more news from around Hawaii She said the devastation in Lahaina is a reminder of just how important it is to have more than one way in and out. "It's entirely relatable," Tupola explained. "And I think that's why the military has been more apt to want to fund it and want to open Kolekole."