Once dubbed "the road to nowhere," the $1.3 billion H-3 Freeway stands as the largest and most controversial public works project in Hawai'i history.
It also has the distinction of being one of the most delayed highways in the country — 34 years from public hearings to completion in 1997.
The freeway is only 16.1 miles long and connects Marine Corps Base, Hawai'i in Kane'ohe with the Halawa Interchange near Aloha Stadium.
Its route was altered several times before construction could begin to accommodate a flood control project, expansion of Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, historic agricultural terraces and areas of cultural significance to Hawaiians.
Initially planned to go through Moanalua Valley, it was moved one valley over to Halawa to protect historic sites. But there were dozens of additional historic sites in Halawa and the state tinkered with its plan two more times before selecting a final route.
The freeway includes a pair of mile-long tunnels blasted through the Ko'olau Mountains that feature a special ventilation system to keep carbon monoxide at a minimum.
Engineers faced a problem from an electromagnetic field generated by the Coast Guard's Ha'iku Omega Station, which was on the windward side of the freeway just below the tunnels.
The fear was that antenna cables, which stretched over the freeway route, could cause a serious accident if they ever fell onto the highway. Also, radiation from the antenna was thought to be potentially harmful to motorists and could even shock workers. The state proposed building a huge and unsightly shield, but the Coast Guard decommissioned the station before the H-3 opened.
The original cost of the H-3 was $96 million and it was scheduled for completion in 1980. But environmental groups that opposed the freeway delayed it with lawsuits, one after the other, for years. They declared it dead three times and once, then-Mayor Frank Fasi held a mock funeral.
Fasi openly feuded with then-Gov. George Ariyoshi. The mayor wanted to use the millions in highway money for a rail-transit system. Fasi once said the freeway should be turned into tennis courts and a skateboard park.
But the state prevailed. At noon on Dec. 12, 1997, the first car to use H-3, a midnight black Lincoln, carried then-Gov. Ben Cayetano through the town-bound tunnel and into Halawa Valley.
Cayetano took in quite a view of Windward O'ahu before entering the tunnel — one of the freeway's incredible attributes. He got a close look at cliffs normally viewed only by birds.
In fact, the scenic view was a big draw during the freeway's first days. State transportation officials had to ask police to enforce traffic laws and urge people to keep moving along the route.
