Renaming H-3 tunnels becomes embarrassing

Tetsuo Harano spent 52 years working for the Hawai'i highways division, and was state highways administrator for 25 years. So he was thrilled when the H-3 tunnels were named after him, an engineer and civil servant, rather than a politician.

Now, he's in the unhappy position of having his name removed from the tunnels. Gov. Ben Cayetano has renamed them after former Gov. John Burns instead.

The state Department of Transportation says an official met with Harano at his home before the tunnel was named, and that Harano did not object to the name change.

A different view

Harano disputes that: "I didn't like it. I suggested that the H-3 highway be named after Governor Burns and that the name of the tunnels be retained."

But Cayetano wasn't about to change his mind. One might say he was making a big point: "One cannot say this person was an exemplary Department of Transportation manager," said Jackie Kido, the governor's director of communications.

Kido said that in 1994, the last year that Harano ran the highways division, the state paid $456,000 in late interest payments because the division was not paying its bills in time. In the last seven years, Kido says, the payments have ranged between $4,000 and $10,000 a year.

And, rather than bring in new, progressive engineers, Harano "tended to bring in retired civil servants, placing them in the very same post under consecutive 30-day emergency hires," Kido says.

Besides, Kido points out, Harano's name hasn't completely vanished from the H-3. On the Halawa side of the tunnel, you'll find the "Tetsuo Harano Control Center."

Harano, who served under Gov. John Waihee, says "I really don't care to rebut the comments," but points out that such hiring practices were not unusual and continued after he left.

"During my time, everything went along fine. We kept up with the construction program. I think we did an excellent job," he said.

We're not about to pass judgment on whether Harano is deserving or not, but we sympathize with the embarrassment he must have suffered from having his name removed from the tunnels.

Even though the late Gov. Burns drove the H-3 project, he didn't particularly want his name on anything other than the UH medical school. The DOT says the Burns family was consulted about the name change and got the OK from Burns' son, James.

Burns' daughter stunned

But daughter Sheenagh Burns wrote in a letter to the editor that she was stunned while driving along the H-3 to see the tunnel bearing her father's name.

"Pop was a very humble man. Although the thought is obviously well meant, I do not view it as fitting to his memory to keep naming things after him," his daughter wrote.

Cayetano may feel he is doing the right thing and surely he has a right to demonstrate his desire for nothing but top-flight performance from the civil service. But his renaming of the tunnels hasn't achieved anything much but awkwardness all around.