For decades in the early part of the 20th century, crossing the Ko'olau Range was viewed as an adventure for hardy commuters who traveled the serpentine road first carved into its rocky cliffs in 1898. It was rated as the worst road in the territory, where strong winds could pop open a car hood or peel away a convertible top.
But in post-World War II Hawai'i, creating safer and speedier routes between Honolulu and Windward O'ahu grew more urgent as populations grew, and urban and residential pressures increased. By the late 1940s, territory and city officials believed that highways through Kalihi and Nu'uanu valleys, complete with tunnels, would solve their problems.
Work on the Pali Highway, which was a territorial project, began on Aug. 1, 1955. When a vastly improved highway opened on May 11, 1957 — which included two of the four tunnels scheduled for construction — the speedier link to Windward O'ahu was praised as a pathway to a new world that was filled with growing subdivisions.
The opening ceremony that day included riders on horseback and a 1901 Oldsmobile in a parade led by Prince David Kaapau Kamehameha of Punalu'u, who smoked a corncob pipe and wore a malo for the occasion.
Motorists cheered the fact that they could make the trip at 45 mph and do so without the need to navigate the old highway's notorious 22 turns. But the Pali opening in 1957 was limited to Honolulu-bound traffic, and it would be four more years — Aug. 1, 1961 — before the remaining tunnels in the $6 million project were finished and the highway opened in the configuration that exists today.
In many respects, the longer Wilson Tunnel and highway through Kalihi Valley, a city project, was more difficult and certainly more costly — it took nearly seven years to complete, claimed five lives and cost $12 million.
Work on the Honolulu-bound tunnel began in January 1954, and three years later, work began on the Kane'ohe-bound tunnel. Both were open for vehicles in November 1960.
On Aug. 5, 1961, after both transportation corridors had opened to traffic, politicians and businessmen from both sides of the Ko'olaus gathered to dedicate each route at ceremonies scheduled one after the other.
There were speeches, songs and a traffic jam when police closed each highway to Windward-bound drivers until the hoopla was finished.
