Interstate H-3

{{Infobox road

| state = HI

| route = 3

| type = I

| alternate_name = John A. Burns Freeway

| map = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=290|frame-height=250|frame-lat=21.402|frame-long=-157.841|zoom=11|type=line|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Wikipedia KML/Interstate H-3}}}}

| map_custom = yes

| map_notes = H-3 highlighted in red

| length_mi = 15.32

| length_ref = {{cite web |last=Starks |first=Edward |date=January 27, 2022 |title=Table 1: Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/interstate_highway_system/routefinder/table01.cfm |access-date=January 22, 2023 |work=FHWA Route Log and Finder List |publisher=Federal Highway Administration}}

| established = December 12, 1997

| direction_a = West

| terminus_a = {{Jct|state=HI|I|1}} in Aiea

| junction = {{Jct|state=HI|I|201}} in Halawa

| direction_b = East

| terminus_b = Marine Corps Base Hawaii main gate

| counties = Honolulu

| previous_type = I

| previous_route = 2

| next_type = HI

| next_route = 11

}}

Interstate H-3 (H-3) is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Hawaii on the island of Oʻahu. H-3 is also known as the John A. Burns Freeway, after the second governor of Hawaii. It crosses the Koʻolau Range along several viaducts and through the {{convert|5165|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} Tetsuo Harano Tunnels as well as the much smaller Hospital Rock Tunnels.

Despite the number, signage is that of an east–west highway. Its western terminus is at an interchange with H-1 at Halawa near Pearl Harbor. Its eastern end is at the main gate of Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH). This route satisfies the national defense purpose of connecting MCBH with the US Navy port at Pearl Harbor off H-1.

Orders for the freeway were granted in 1960, followed by planning stages. Construction, amid enormous community protest, was begun in the late 1980s, although the road did not open until December 12, 1997. Environmental complaints and legal challenges halted construction at many points. Construction resumed during the late 1980s after a move by US Senator Daniel Inouye, who, in 1986, had the freeway exempted from most environmental laws{{Cite book|last=Hamasaki|first=Mark|last2=Landgraf|first2=Anne Kapulani|title=Ē luku wale ē = Devastation upon devastation|publisher=Ai Pōhaku Press in association with Native Hawaiian Education Association|year=2015|location=Honolulu}} as a rider on a Department of Defense budget bill.{{cite web |date=October 2, 1986 |title=Senate Amendment 3116 to House Joint Resolution 738, 99th Congress |url=https://www.congress.gov/amendment/99th-congress/senate-amendment/3116 |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=August 7, 2016}}{{cite book |title=Making Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1987 (Conference Report to H.J. Res. 738) |chapter=Amendment No. 55: Interstate Highway H-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingcontinuing00unit/page/783 783]–784 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |date=October 15, 1986 |url=https://archive.org/details/makingcontinuing00unit |via=Internet Archive |access-date=August 7, 2016}}

H-3 was the most expensive Interstate Highway ever built, on a cost-per-mile basis.{{cite book |last = McNichol |first = Dan |year = 2006 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=b0qO1yCFRxYC&pg=PA176 |title = The Roads that Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System |location = New York |publisher = Sterling |page = 176 |isbn = 9781402734687 |oclc = 1152948489 |via = Google Books |access-date = May 18, 2022 }} Its final cost was $1.3 billion (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|1300000000|1997}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|index=US-GDP}}), or approximately $80 million per mile ({{convert|80|e6$/mi|e6$/km|abbr=unit|disp=output number only}}/km; equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|80000000|1997}}}} per mile [{{convert|{{inflation|US-GDP|80|1997}}|e6$/mi|e6$/km|abbr=off|disp=output number only}}/km] in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|index=US-GDP}}).

Route description

File:H3 viaduct Halawa.jpg crest]]

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.{{cite news |last=Yuen |first=Mike |date=December 3, 1997 |title=H-3, Open Road: After decades of controversy, the 16.1-mile highway will soon open for business |page=A1 |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/1997/12/03/news/story2.html |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |accessdate=November 24, 2021}} 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.{{cite news |date=December 8, 1997 |title=H-3 Interchange Maps |page=S4 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89517946/h-3-interchange-maps/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=November 24, 2021}} 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.{{google maps |title=Interstate H-3 |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/21.3708366,-157.9260381/21.435658,-157.7569651/@21.4027001,-157.8766467,16652m/am=t/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!4m1!3e0 |accessdate=November 24, 2021}}

The freeway then runs on Windward Viaducts through Hālawa Valley for about {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in}} 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

File:H-3 Viaducts.jpg

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.{{cite web |last=Weingroff |first=Richard |title=Interstates in Hawaii: ARE WE CRAZY??? |url=https://highways.dot.gov/highway-history/general-highway-history/rambler/ask-rambler-interstates-hawaii-are-we-crazy |work=Ask the Rambler |publisher=Federal Highway Administration |access-date=November 15, 2021}}{{cite news |date=June 19, 1960 |title=Freeways To Be Extended |page=39 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88969133/freeways-to-be-extended/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=November 15, 2021}}

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.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} 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.

File:2021-10-06 17 13 33 View east along Interstate H-3 (John A. Burns Freeway) at the exit for Interstate H-201 EAST (Honolulu) in Halawa, Oahu, Hawaii.jpg

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.{{cite web |title= Archaeological Projects Conducted by Bishop Museum for the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation and Federal Highways Administration for Interstate Route H-3 |url= http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/cultstud/h3reports.html |publisher= Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum |access-date= March 27, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110430225416/http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/cultstud/h3reports.html |archive-date= April 30, 2011 |df= mdy-all }}{{cite web |last= Trask |first= Haunani-Kay |title= Stop H-3 Freeway sit-down protest, 1990s |url= http://www.haunani-kaytrask.com/gallery/H3/index.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041106113059/http://www.haunani-kaytrask.com/gallery/H3/index.htm |url-status= usurped |archive-date= November 6, 2004 |access-date= March 27, 2011}} Many contend that the freeway is "cursed" due to its destruction of religious sites{{cite web |title=H-3 Reports and Archives |publisher=Halawa-Luluku Interpretive Development Project |url=http://www.hlid.org/archives.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726151917/http://www.hlid.org/archives.html |archive-date=July 26, 2011 |access-date=August 7, 2016}}{{cite journal |first= David |last= Hanlon |date=Spring 2001 |title= Review of Pana O'ahu: Sacred Stones, Sacred Land |journal= The Contemporary Pacific |volume= 13 |pages= 293–5 |issn= 1527-9464 |url= http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/journals/cp/cp131p293.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040829081411/http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/journals/cp/cp131p293.pdf |archive-date= August 29, 2004 |doi=10.1353/cp.2001.0009|s2cid= 162196377 }} and is therefore harmful even to those who traverse it.{{cite news |last= Omandam |first= Pat |title= Two points of view converge: Is H-3 trek a desecration or a celebration of the breathtaking beauty of Hawaii? |url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/97/05/09/news/story1.html |newspaper= Hawaii Star-Bulletin |date= May 9, 1997}}{{cite news |last= Omandam |first= Pat |title= Even with the opening at hand, many Hawaiians say protests may not end |url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/97/12/04/news/story3.html |newspaper= Hawaii Star-Bulletin |date= December 4, 1997}}

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.{{cite web |first= Christian |last= Melgar |year= 2002 |url= http://www.birdinghawaii.co.uk/XEndemicforestbirds2.htm |title= Hawai'i's Endemic Forest Birds: Distribution, Status & Population Updates 2002 |work= Birding Hawaii |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050210054628/http://www.birdinghawaii.co.uk/XEndemicforestbirds2.htm |archive-date= February 10, 2005 |df= mdy-all }}

Some longtime residents of Koʻolaupoko and other East Shore communities continue to object to the freeway's developmental impacts on their communities. Among their primary fears are urbanization on the scale of Honolulu via the freeway, which has the potential to bring heavy traffic and growth into their traditionally quiet neighborhoods, as well as affecting the value of their homes in the relatively rural (until recently) communities.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Conversely, this road is considered an engineering wonder by its admirers. It is often compared to various cinematic landscapes in Star Wars and other movies, and it does sometimes reduce travel time for cross-island commuters, which has allowed for increased real estate development and prices in windward Oʻahu.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

File:Koolau Range 03.JPG

One anecdote relates to the elevated section passing through Haʻikū Valley. In this valley, the viaduct passed beneath the antenna of a US Coast Guard radio transmission facility. It was thought that the energy field from the antenna could interfere with heart pacemakers—a potential detriment to drivers and passengers on the roadway. A giant metal cage was designed to surround the roadway through the valley. Before H-3 was opened, the US Coast Guard closed their transmitting facility, obviating the need for the cage. Although the full cage was never built, buried within the roadway was the bottom of the cage. HDOT decided to not construct this steel mesh prior to opening of the freeway.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

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.{{cite news |date=August 27, 2020 |title=State will shut down H-3 for two days; freeway will serve as COVID testing site |url=https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/state-will-shut-down-h-3-for-two-days-freeway-will-serve-as-covid-testing-site/ |publisher=KHON |access-date=August 30, 2020}}

Exit list

{{jcttop|exit|state=HI|county=Honolulu|length_ref={{cite map|title=Street Atlas USA|publisher=DeLorme|year=2007|at=Toggle Measure Tool}}}}

{{HIint|exit

|location=Aiea

|lspan=4

|mile=0.00

|mspan=2

|exit=—

|road={{Jct|state=HI|I|1|dir1=east|location1=Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam|location2=Airport|extra=airport}}

|notes=Exit 13 on H-1}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=none

|exit=1A

|road={{jct|state=HI|I|1|dir1=west|city1=Pearl City}}

|notes=Westbound exit and eastbound entrance}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=0.13

|exit=1B

|type=incomplete

|road={{jct|state=HI|I|201|dir1=east|city1=Honolulu}}

|notes=No westbound entrance; no number designation on eastbound exit; exit 1C on H-201}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=0.51

|exit=1C

|type=incomplete

|road=Stadium, Camp Smith, Halawa, Aiea

|notes=Westbound exit only; access via Route 7241}}

{{jctbridge|exit

|location_special=Ko'olau Range

|mile=

|bridge=Tetsuo Harano Tunnels, Hospital Rock Tunnels}}

{{HIint|exit

|location=Kaneohe

|lspan=5

|mile=8.23

|exit=9

|type=incomplete

|road={{jct|state=HI|HI|63|dir1=north|name1=Likelike Highway}}

|notes=Eastbound exit and westbound entrance}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=9.91

|exit=11

|road={{jct|state=HI|HI|83|name1=Kamehameha Highway|city1=Kaneohe|location2=North Shore}}

}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=12.30

|exit=14

|type=incomplete

|road={{jct|state=HI|HI|630|city1=Kailua|countydab1=Honolulu}}

|notes=Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; signed as Route 65

}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=13.83

|mspan=2

|exit=15

|road=Kaneohe Bay Drive

}}

{{HIint|exit

|mile=none

|exit=–

|road=Kaneohe MCBH

|notes=Continuation beyond Kaneohe Bay Drive}}

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline|Interstate H-3}}
[https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/summer-1993/h3-island-interstate H-3: The Island Interstate] (1993)
{{cite news |first = Bruce |last = Dunford |date = July 16, 1995 |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-16-me-24425-story.html |title = Hawaii Freeway 25 Years Overdue as Costs Spin Out of Control |work = Los Angeles Times |agency = Associated Press |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013657/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-16-me-24425-story.html |archive-date = November 12, 2020 |url-status = live }}

Category:Interstate Highways in Hawaii

Category:Transportation in Honolulu County, Hawaii