Interstate H-3

Route description

H-3 begins northwest of Downtown Honolulu at the Halawa Interchange with H-1 and auxiliary route H-201. The interchange is adjacent to Aloha Stadium and northeast of Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, which includes Pearl Harbor National Memorial. H-3 has direct access to H-1, which continues south to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and west toward Pearl City, and an onramp from the Aloha Stadium parking lot. The freeway travels east along Hālawa Stream and parallel to H-201, which it intersects near Salt Lake. H-3 then turns northeast and heads toward Koʻolau Range by following Hālawa Valley.

The freeway then runs on Windward Viaducts through Hālawa Valley for about 6 mi until it reaches the Tetsuo Harano Tunnels through Koʻolau Range. Once on the eastern end of the tunnel, the freeway follows a viaduct built along the side of Haʻikū Valley until the Kaneohe Interchange with Route 63 (Likelike Highway) which leads into the town of Kāneʻohe. The freeway then continues past the Kaneohe Interchange to the Halekou Interchange with Route 83 (Kamehameha Highway) and from there to the Kauila interchange with Route 65 (Mokapu Saddle Road) and the Mokapu Interchange serving Kaneohe Bay Drive. After the Mokapu Interchange, H-3 spans a causeway between Kāneʻohe Bay and Nuʻupia Pond and ends at the main gate of MCBH.

History

A set of Interstate Highways on Oʻahu were approved for funding by the US Congress in 1960, a year after Hawaii was admitted as a state. A corridor connecting the Honolulu area to Kāneʻohe was included in the plan and was designated as "Interstate H-3" by the Bureau of Public Roads (now the Federal Highway Administration) on August 29, 1960.

Since its inception, the H-3 freeway has been mired in controversy. The original route was not set to be in current Hālawa Valley, but rather, the nearest major valley due east, in the Moanalua ahupuaʻa. The Damon family hurried to create the Moanalua Gardens Foundation in 1970 to join the forces of all political and cultural groups who opposed the freeway's construction through their tract of land. The foundation's pinnacle no-build argument was the need to remove a significant historical stone containing ancient petroglyphs, Pohaku ka Luahine, which, to this day, stands intact along the Moanalua valley trail. Success came their way as this freeway route was dropped, but H-3 would merely be rerouted.

Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) cultural practitioners continue to call for the highway's removal since it runs through an area of extreme cultural significance. The Bishop Museum, which did the historical and archeological research, has published extensive reports that generally ascribe lower cultural significance to these sites relative to other sites in Hawaii. Many contend that the freeway is "cursed" due to its destruction of religious sites and is therefore harmful even to those who traverse it.

Ongoing environmental concerns include weed encroachment, light pollution, asbestos pollution, water and streamlife problems, and a host of other concerns; among these are the ongoing decline of native owls called pueo and other native birds. For example, the Oʻahu ʻalauahio (Paroreomyza maculata), whose last known home was Halawa, has had no sightings since H-3 construction was completed.

In September 2020, a section of the H-3 freeway (the Tetsuo Harano Tunnel) was closed for two days to serve as a COVID-19 surge testing site for up to 10,000 people. The freeway was selected to allow for long queuing lanes leading up to testing stations at the Kaneohe and Halawa tunnel portals.

Exit list

References

References

1. Starks, Edward. (January 27, 2022). "Table 1: Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways". [[Federal Highway Administration]].
2. Hamasaki, Mark. (2015). "Ē luku wale ē = Devastation upon devastation". Ai Pōhaku Press in association with Native Hawaiian Education Association.
3. (October 2, 1986). "Senate Amendment 3116 to House Joint Resolution 738, 99th Congress". [[United States Congress]].
4. (October 15, 1986). "Making Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1987 (Conference Report to H.J. Res. 738)". [[United States Government Printing Office]].
5. McNichol, Dan. (2006). "The Roads that Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System". Sterling.
6. Yuen, Mike. (December 3, 1997). "H-3, Open Road: After decades of controversy, the 16.1-mile highway will soon open for business". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
7. (December 8, 1997). "H-3 Interchange Maps". The Honolulu Advertiser.
8. "Interstate H-3".
9. Weingroff, Richard. "Interstates in Hawaii: ARE WE CRAZY???". Federal Highway Administration.
10. (June 19, 1960). "Freeways To Be Extended". The Honolulu Advertiser.
11. "Archaeological Projects Conducted by Bishop Museum for the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation and Federal Highways Administration for Interstate Route H-3". Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
12. Trask, Haunani-Kay. "Stop H-3 Freeway sit-down protest, 1990s".
13. "H-3 Reports and Archives". Halawa-Luluku Interpretive Development Project.
14. Hanlon, David. (Spring 2001). "Review of ''Pana O'ahu: Sacred Stones, Sacred Land''". The Contemporary Pacific.
15. Omandam, Pat. (May 9, 1997). "Two points of view converge: Is H-3 trek a desecration or a celebration of the breathtaking beauty of Hawaii?". Hawaii Star-Bulletin.
16. Omandam, Pat. (December 4, 1997). "Even with the opening at hand, many Hawaiians say protests may not end". Hawaii Star-Bulletin.
17. Melgar, Christian. (2002). "Hawai'i's Endemic Forest Birds: Distribution, Status & Population Updates 2002". Birding Hawaii.
18. (August 27, 2020). "State will shut down H-3 for two days; freeway will serve as COVID testing site". KHON.
19. (2007). "Street Atlas USA". [[DeLorme]].