Editing Interstate H-3 (section)

==History==
[[File:H-3 Viaducts.jpg|thumb|right|Viaducts of H-3 within Hālawa Valley]]

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.<ref name="FHWA-History">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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|left|thumb|H-3 eastbound at the exit for H-201 east]]

[[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.<ref name=bishop>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> Many contend that the freeway is "cursed" due to its destruction of religious sites<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref> and is therefore harmful even to those who traverse it.<ref name=omandam>{{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}}</ref><ref name=pat>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name= bishop/><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

Some longtime residents of [[Koʻolaupoko]] and other [[East Shore (Oahu)|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|thumb|Aerial view of the tunnel's eastern entrance]]

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 pacemaker]]s—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&nbsp;people. The freeway was selected to allow for long queuing lanes leading up to testing stations at the Kaneohe and Halawa tunnel portals.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
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