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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE
INVENTORY AND EVALUATION
2024 UPDATE
Prepared for
STATE OF HAWAII
Department of Transportation
Highways Division
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Title Page Images
1. Hakalau Stream Bridge (Hawaii Island)
2. Kawainui Stream Bridge (Inbound) (Oahu Island)
3. Lumahai Stream Bridge (Kauai Island)
4. West Wailuaiki Stream Bridge (Maui Island)
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acronyms and Abbreviations v
Executive Summary vi
1.0: Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Regulatory Background 1
State Law 1
Federal Law 2
1.3 Historic Bridge Identification and Evaluation Methods 8
2008 SHIBE Draft Report 8
2013 SHBIE Report 9
2024 SHBIE Update 10
2024 SHBIE Update Summary 13
1.4 Using the 2024 SHBIE update with the Historic Bridges PA 15
Project Review Using the Historic Bridges PA 15
2.0: Bridge Identification 17
Federal Definition 17
Identification of Bridge Components 17
Summary of Bridge Types in Hawaii 17
Bridge Parapet/Railing Types 36
3.0: Historic Contexts 47
3.1: Design and Construction of Bridges and Roads in the Hawaiian Islands, Pre-Contact to the 1960s
47
Overview 47
Historical Background 47
Bridge and Road Construction in the Kingdom of Hawaii to 1893 48
Bridge and Road Construction in the Republic of Hawaii and the Territorial Era: 1894-1941 51
Bridge and Road Construction in Hawaii: 1941-1977 54
3.2:The Hana Highway, Maui: Pre-Contact to the 1960s 56
Historical Background 56
3.3:The Old Mamalahoa Highway, Hawaii Island: Pre-Contact to 1960s 60
Historical Background 60
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Bridges Along the Old Mamalahoa Highway 63
Narrative Statement of Significance of Proposed Mamalahoa Highway Historic Bridge District 64
3.4: Hawaii Belt Road, Hawaii Island: Pre-Contact to the 1960s 65
Historical Background 65
The Hilo-Hamakua Heritage Coastline 69
Post-World War II Hawaii Belt Road Bridges 70
3.5:The Pali Highway, Oahu: Pre-Contact to the 1960s 70
Historical Background 70
Impacts of the Highway 77
3.6:The Federal Aid Highway System and Interstate Highway System on Oahu, 1911-1953 78
Historical Background 78
Road Construction 79
3.7: Military Contribution to Road and Highway Construction in Hawaii, 1959-1970s 80
Historical Background 80
Interstate Route H-1 in Honolulu 83
Bridges in the Highway System 83
3.8: Standardization, Additional Interstates, and Preservation (1968-1987) 86
Suburban Growth and Bridge Standardization 86
Completing Interstate Route H-1 (1969-1986) 88
"Forgotten Freeway": Interstate Route H-2 (1970-1977) 90
Highways on Paper: Interstate Route H-3 and Interstate Route H-4(1968-1987) 92
Historic Preservation Considerations (1969-1987) 104
4.0: Summary 106
5.0: Bibliography 107
Newspaper Articles and Press Clippings 107
Printed Primary Sources (Annual Reports and Maps) 108
Reports: HAER, Government Agencies, Consultants 112
Secondary Sources: Books,Journal Articles, Websites 114
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TABLES
Table 1. Summary Table of All Bridges in 2024 Matrices 13
Table 2. Bridges Determined Not Eligible 14
Table 3. Bridges Altered After 2013 14
Table 4. Bridges Replaced After 2013 14
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Island of Kauai
Kauai 2024 Updated State Bridge Matrix
Kauai 2013 State Bridge Matrix
Kauai 2013 County Bridge Matrix
Appendix B: Island of Oahu
Oahu 2024 Updated State Bridge Matrix
Oahu 2013 State Bridge Matrix
Oahu 2013 County Bridge Matrix
Appendix C: Islands of Maui and Molokai
Maui and Molokai 2024 Updated State Bridge Matrix
Maui and Molokai 2013 State Bridge Matrix
Maui and Molokai 2013 County Bridge Matrix
Appendix D: Island of Hawaii
Hawaii 2024 Updated State and County Bridge Matrix
Hawaii 2013 State Bridge Matrix
Hawaii 2013 County Bridge Matrix
Appendix E Supplemental Information
Glossary of Terms
Significant Designers of Historic Hawaii Bridges
Bridge Rehabilitation Guidelines
Kuhio Highway(Route 560) Historic Roadway Corridor Plan (2005)
Preservation Plan Project for State Bridges within the Hana Belt Road Historic District(2015)
Appendix F: National Register Nominations, Historic Districts and District Recommendations
National Register Nominations: Island of Kauai
Hanapepe Road Bridge
Kauai Belt Road (North Shore Section) (Additional Documentation)
Kauai Belt Road (North Shore Section)
North Shore Route
North Shore Route (Appendix B Hanalei, Waikoko, Hanalei)
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Hanalei Bridge
Waipa Bridge—Kuhio Highway
Waioli Bridge—Kuhio Highway
Manoa Stream Ford— Kuhio Highway
Limahuli Stream Crossing—Kuhio Highway
Haena Bridge Number 1—Kuhio Highway
Haena Bridge Number 2—Kuhio Highway
Waikoko Bridge—Kuhio Highway
Wainiha Bridge#1, #2, #3—Kuhio Highway
Puuopae Bridge
Puuopae Bridge Miscellaneous
Oaekaa Road Bridge
Kapaia Swinging Bridge (Updated)
Kapaia Swingting Bridge (Original)
National Register Nominations: Island of Oahu
The Ala Wai Canal
Kalauao Springs Bridge
Kalauao Stream Bridge
Kapalama Canal Bridge
National Register Nominations: Island of Maui
Kaahumanu Ave—Naniloa Drive Overpass
Waiale Drive Bridge
Hana Belt Road
National Register Nominations: Island of Hawaii
Steel Trestle Bridges on the Hamakua Coast
Nanue Stream Bridge
Umauma Stream Bridge
Kapue Stream Bridge
Paheehee Stream Bridge
Kolekole Stream Bridge
Hakalau Stream Bridge
Hilina Pali Road
Historic Districts and District Recommendations
Kaui Belt Road (North Shore Section)
Pali Highway
Hana Belt Road
Old Mamalahoa Highway(Hawaii Belt Road)
Postwar Hawaii Belt Road, Multiple Property
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• AASHO American Association of State Highway Officials (before 1973)
• AASHTO American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (1973 to
present)
• ACHP Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• BPR Bureau of Public Roads
• C.F.R. Code of Federal Regulations
• CLG Certified Local Government
• CPL Commissioner of Public Lands
• DLNR Department of Land and Natural Resources
• DOT Department of Transportation (Federal)
• DPW Department of Public Works
• FAP Federal Aid Primary(route)
• FHWA Federal Highway Administration
• HAER Historic American Engineering Record
• HDOT State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Highways Division
• HHF Historic Hawaii Foundation
• HRS Hawaii Revised Statutes
• HRHP Hawaii Register of Historic Places
• H-1 Hawaii Interstate Highway, designation H-1
• H-2 Hawaii Interstate Highway, designation H-2
• H-3 Hawaii Interstate Highway, designation H-3
• IHS Interstate Highway System
• KHPRC Kauai Historic Preservation Review Commission
• LRFD Load and Resistance Factor Design
• MCRC Maui Cultural Resources Commission
• MOA Memorandum of Agreement
• NBI National Bridge Inventory
• NCHRP National Cooperative Highway Research Program
• NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
• NHPA National Historic Preservation Act
• NRHP National Register of Historic Places
• PRA Public Roads Administration
• SAFETEA-LU Safe, Equitable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act:A Legacy for Users
• SHBIE State Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation
• SHPD State Historic Preservation Division
• SHPO State Historic Preservation Officer
• SPW Superintendent of Public Works
• STURAA Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act
• THD Territorial Highway Department
• TMK Tax Map Key
• U.S.C. United States Code
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project provides an update to and replaces the 2013 State Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation
(SHBIE) which identified 707 bridges throughout Hawaii that are eligible for listing or have been listed in
the Hawaii Register of Historic Places (HRHP) or National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The goal for
the State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Highways Division (HDOT) is to utilize this inventory
to aid in future project planning that may involve historic bridges.
Through coordination with HDOT, WSP USA, Inc. has reevaluated 100"Priority Bridges"from the 2013
SHBIE that HDOT has identified for near-term project work. In addition, WSP USA, Inc. provided
evaluations for previously unevaluated bridges constructed from 1968 through 1977 (totaling 196),
updated the SHBIE's historic context, included information on bridges substantially altered since 2013
and not otherwise covered by HDOT's Priority Bridges list, and provided new inventory forms with
additional information for both National Historic Preservation Act(NHPA) Section 106 and Hawaii
Revised Statutes (HRS) § 6E compliance. This SHBIE Update also includes 2013 survey forms for bridges
that have not been updated, bridge identification information, historic context to 1987, and report
appendices.
This project was prepared by staff at WSP USA, Inc. who meet the Secretary of the Interior's Professional
Qualifications Standards for Architectural History and History(36 C.F.R. Part 61, Appendix A).
Guy Blanchard, Technical Lead
John Perry, Principal Investigator
Joe Tomberlin, QAQC
Michael Kyne, QAQC
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1.0: INTRODUCTION
1.1 OVERVIEW
The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) is tasked with maintaining and managing bridges
throughout the State of Hawaii, along with individual County departments of transportation. Many of
these bridges meet or are approaching an age that warrants consideration as a historic property
pursuant to state and federal historic preservation law. Projects that utilize state or federal funding
must consider alternatives that are feasible and prudent before adversely affecting a historic property
through undertakings that may include alterations, repair, and/or replacement of historic bridges. In the
1980s and 1990s, historic bridge inventories have been prepared for each island and combined into one
document in 2008. Because of the volume of bridges in Hawaii, an efficient process for identifying
bridges that are eligible for listing in the Hawaii Register of Historic Places (HRHP) and National Register
of Historic Places (NRHP) was developed in 2013 through efforts that resulted in the 2013 State Historic
Bridge Inventory and Evaluation (SHBIE) by MKE Associates LLC and Fung Associates, Inc.
Since publication of the 2013 SHBIE, HDOT has utilized the inventory to aid in project planning by
identifying known historic bridges that may be affected by HDOT activities. This 2024 update builds
upon the information from the 2013 SHBIE and an earlier bridge report completed by The Heritage
Center in 2008 under the supervision of Spencer Leineweber of Honolulu, Hawaii. The current scope of
work did not involve re-visiting the already developed bridge historic contexts or other major elements
of the previous bridge inventories. Where possible, efforts were made in this 2024 SHBIE update to carry
forward all relevant and useful information from the 2013 report. The following has been largely carried
over from the 2013 report: Chapter 2, Chapter 3 (sections 3.0-3.7 with edits to text and footnotes where
necessary), 2013 survey forms for bridges not receiving updated forms, Appendix E, and Appendix F. The
SHBIE has been updated to include State and County bridges constructed from 1968 to 1977, identifies
bridges that may have been substantially altered since the 2013 SHBIE, and reevaluates 100 bridges
HDOT identified as "Priority Bridges" as part of future project planning activities. Of these 100"Priority
Bridges," all but two were state-owned. The SHBIE update also provides a historic context for 1968-1987
(section 3.8)to cover the completion of Interstate H-1 and the beginning of construction for Interstate
H-3.
1.2 REGULATORY BACKGROUND
STATE LAW
Hawaii Revised Statutes(HRS), Chapter 6E (1976)
Chapter 6E of the HRS regulations requires the "development of a statewide survey and inventory to
identify and document historic properties."1 The State Historic Preservation Officer(SHPO) is required to
coordinate the activities of the political subdivisions of the state in accordance with the state plan for
historic preservation. Further, HRS § 6E-8, Review of effect of proposed State and County projects,
requires HDOT to provide the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) with an opportunity for review
1 State of Hawaii, §6E-3 Historic Preservation Program, under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 6E,
http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/hpd/hpfctsht.htm (accessed April 1, 2013).
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
and must receive a written concurrence before a project can proceed.' In HRS § 6E-2, a "project" is
defined as any activity directly undertaken by the State or its political subdivisions or supported in
whole, or in part, through appropriation, contracts, grants, subsides, loans, or other forms of funding
assistance from the State or its political subdivisions or involving any lease, permit, license, certificate,
land use change, or other entitlement for use issued by the State or its political subdivisions (Hawaii
Senate Bill SB 3010).
Hawaii Administrative Rules(HAR), § 13-275
The HAR "Rules Governing Procedures for Historic Preservation Review for Governmental Projects
Covered Under Sections 6E-7 and 6E-8, HRS" includes a review process that is "designed to identify
significant historic properties in project areas and then to develop and execute plans to handle impacts
to the significant historic properties in the public interest." Pursuant to HAR § 13-275-2, a historic
property means, "any building, structure, object, district, area or site, including heiau and underwater
site, which is over fifty years old."A significant historic property means, "any historic property that
meets the criteria of the Hawaii register of historic places."3 A significant historic property shall possess
integrity of location, design, setting. materials, workmanship, feeling, and association and shall meet
one or more of the following criterion:
a. Be associated with events that have made an important contribution to the broad patterns of
our history;
b. Be associated with the lives of persons important in our past;
c. Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, represent
the work of a master, or possess high artistic value;
d. Have yielded, or is likely to yield, information important for research on prehistory or history;
or
e. Have an important value to the native Hawaiian people or to another ethnic group of the
state due to associations with cultural practices once carried out, or still carried out, at the
property or due to associations with traditional beliefs, events or oral accounts--these
associations being important to the group's history and cultural identity.
FEDERAL LAW
National Historic Preservation Act(NHPA)of 1966, 54 United States Code (U.S.C.)§300101
The NHPA recognizes the Nation's historic heritage and establishes a national policy for the preservation
of historic properties. The project is an undertaking subject to compliance with Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (NHPA) (54 United States Code (U.S.C) § 300101
et seq.) and its implementing regulations (36 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Part 800). Specifically,
Section 106 of the NHPA requires that the responsible federal agency consider the effects of its actions
'State of Hawaii, §6E-8 Review of effect of proposed State and County projects, under Hawaii Revised
Statutes Chapter 6E, http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/hpd/hpfctsht.htm (accessed March 28, 2013).
3 "Administrative Rules Pertaining to Historic Preservation in Hawai'i," State of Hawaii, State Historic
Preservation Division, accessed January 5, 2024,https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/shpd/rules/.
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
on historic properties and provide the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) an
opportunity to comment on the undertaking.
Historic properties are defined as prehistoric and historic sites, buildings, structures, districts, and
objects listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), as well as
artifacts, records, and remains related to such properties. Section 106 requires the lead federal agency,
in consultation with the SHPO, to develop the Area of Potential Effects (APE), identify historic properties
(i.e., NRHP-listed and NRHP-eligible) in the APE, and make determinations of the proposed project's
effect on historic properties in the APE. Section 106 regulations require that the lead federal agency
consult with the SHPO and identified parties with an interest in historic resources during planning and
development of the proposed project. The ACHP may participate in the consultation or may leave such
involvement to the SHPO and other consulting parties who have a demonstrated interest in historic
preservation. In this case, ACHP has declined to participate and the SHPO will be provided an
opportunity to comment on the proposed project and its effects on historic properties. The SHPO and
other consulting parties may participate in developing a Memorandum of Agreement or Programmatic
Agreement to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects as applicable.
As part of the Section 106 process, agency officials apply the NRHP Criteria for Evaluation to identify
historic properties. As established in the NHPA, to be listed in the NRHP or be determined eligible for
listing in the NRHP, properties must meet certain criteria to determine historic significance. A property is
eligible for the NRHP if it is significant under one or more of the following Criteria for Evaluation defined
in 36 C.F.R. § 60.4, which states "the quality of significance in American history, architecture,
archaeology, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects of state and local
importance that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and
association, and that:
A:Are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of
our history; or
B:Are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
C: Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or
represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values, or represent a significant and
distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
D: Have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history."
Built resources are typically evaluated under Criteria A, B, and C; Criterion D applies primarily to
archaeological resources.
If a property is determined to possess historic significance, its integrity is evaluated using the following
seven aspects of integrity to determine if it conveys that historic significance: location, design, setting,
materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. If a property is determined to possess historic
significance under one or more criteria and retains integrity to convey its significance, the property is
determined to be eligible for listing in the NRHP.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
The National Register Bulletin "How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation" (National
Park Service 1997) describes the aspects of integrity and their relevance to the NRHP Criteria for
Evaluation. The seven aspects of integrity are explained in the bulletin as follows:
Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the
historic event occurred. The relationship between the property and its location is often
important to understanding why the property was created or why something happened. The
actual location of a historic property, complemented by its setting, is particularly important in
recapturing the sense of historic events and persons.
Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a
property. It results from conscious decisions made during the original conception and planning
of a property(or its significant alteration) and applies to activities as diverse as community
planning, engineering, architecture, and landscape architecture. Design includes such elements
as organization of space, proportion, scale, technology, ornamentation, and materials. A
property's design reflects historic functions and technologies as well as aesthetics. It includes
such considerations as the structural system; massing; arrangement of spaces; pattern of
fenestration;textures and colors of surface materials;type, amount, and style of ornamental
detailing; and arrangement and type of plantings in a designed landscape.
Design can also apply to districts, whether they are important primarily for historic association,
architectural value, information potential, or a combination thereof. For districts, significant
primarily for historic association or architectural value, design concerns more than just the
individual buildings or structures located within the boundaries. It also applies to the way in
which buildings, sites, or structures are related. The bridges along the Hamakua Coast on the
Island of Hawaii demonstrate this aspect of integrity through their innovative and unique
construction involving repurposing of former railroad trestles.
Setting is the physical environment of a historic property. Whereas location refers to the specific
place where a property was built or an event occurred, setting refers to the character of the
place in which the property played its historical role. It involves how, not just where, the
property is situated and its relationship to surrounding features and open space. Setting often
reflects the basic physical conditions under which a property was built and the functions it was
intended to serve. In addition, the way in which a property is positioned in its environment can
reflect the designer's concept of nature and aesthetic preferences.
The physical features that constitute the setting of a historic property can be either natural or
manmade, including such elements as:topographic features (a gorge or the crest of a hill);
vegetation; simple manmade features (paths or fences); and relationships between buildings
and other features or open space. These features and their relationships should be examined
not only within the exact boundaries of the property, but also between the property and its
surroundings. This is particularly important for districts, such as the Hana Belt Road, where the
road's historic bridges conform to the topography and blend with the lush surroundings.
Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period
of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. The choice and
combination of materials reveal the preferences of those who created the property and indicate
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
the availability of particular types of materials and technologies. Indigenous materials are often
the focus of regional building traditions and thereby help define an area's sense of time and
place. A property must retain the key exterior materials dating from the period of its historic
significance. If the property has been rehabilitated, the historic materials and significant
features must have been preserved. In Hawaii, lava rock is an important material used for
construction of many early bridges.
Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any
given period in history or prehistory. It is the evidence of artisans' labor and skill in constructing
or altering a building, structure, object, or site. Workmanship can apply to the property as a
whole or to its individual components. It can be expressed in vernacular methods of
construction and plain finishes or in highly sophisticated configurations and ornamental
detailing. It can be based on common traditions or innovative period techniques. Workmanship
is important because it can furnish evidence of the technology of a craft, illustrate the aesthetic
principles of a historic or prehistoric period, and reveal individual, local, regional, or national
applications of both technological practices and aesthetic principles. Decorative treatments,
often applied to historic bridge parapets, help demonstrate this aspect of integrity.
Feeling is a property's expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time.
It results from the presence of physical features that, taken together, convey the property's
historic character.
Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic
property. A property retains association if it is in the place where the event or activity occurred
and conveys that relationship to an observer. Like feeling, association requires the presence of
physical features that convey a property's historic character.
According to guidance found in "How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation," different
aspects of integrity may be more or less relevant for specific historic properties in relation to their
significance. For example, a property that is significant for its historic association (Criteria A or B) is
eligible if it retains the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the
period of its association with the important event, historical pattern, or person(s). A property
determined eligible under Criteria A or B ideally might retain some features of all aspects of integrity,
although aspects such as design and workmanship might not be as important.
A property important for illustrating a particular architectural style or construction technique (Criterion
C) must retain most of the physical features that constitute that style or technique. A property that has
lost some historic materials or details can be eligible if it retains the majority of features that illustrate
its type and/or style in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and
doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. The property is not eligible, however, if it retains some
basic features conveying massing but has lost the majority of the features that once characterized its
type or style. A property significant under Criterion C must retain those physical features that
characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Retention of
design, workmanship, and materials will usually be more important than location, setting, feeling, and
association.
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Location and setting will be important for those properties whose design is a reflection of their
immediate environment, such as designed landscapes.
For a historic district to retain integrity, the majority of the components that make up the district's
historic character must possess integrity even if they are individually undistinguished. In addition, the
relationships among the district's components must be substantially unchanged since the period of
significance.
Department of Transportation (DOT)Act of 1966, 23 U.S.C. § 138
This act includes a special provision, referred to as Section 4(f) and now codified at 23 C.F.R. § 138, that
stipulates the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)and other DOT agencies cannot approve the use
of land from publicly owned parks, recreational areas, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, or public and
private historical sites unless the following conditions apply:
• There is no feasible and prudent alternative to the use of land, and
• The action includes all possible planning to minimize harm to the property resulting from use.
"Use" of a property protected under Section 4(f) may be defined as a) permanent incorporation of land,
b)temporary occupation of land if that temporary occupancy meets certain criteria, or c) by effect of
proximity where noise, visibility, or other like conditions substantially impair the protected features of
the property.
In 2005, as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
(SAFETEA-LU, Public Law 109-59, Aug. 10, 2005), Congress amended Section 4(f)to provide an
alternative method of approving the use of protected resources where the impact is de minimis. The de
minimis impact determination provides the basis for the U.S. DOT to approve the minor use of a Section
4(f) property without identifying and evaluating avoidance alternatives, thus streamlining the approval
process. The Section 4(f) regulations are located at 23 C.F.R. Part 774.
National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA)of 1969,42 U.S.C. §§4321-4347
NEPA requires Federal agencies to identify and consider the environmental impacts of Federal actions
and includes consideration of impacts on cultural resources. As required by the NHPA and NEPA, every
Federal agency must provide for the identification and consideration of historic properties prior to
undertaking any action that may potentially affect these resources. This applies to state agencies that
receive Federal funds.
Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, Public Law 100-17,April 2,
1987
This bill, which addresses highway improvement, planning and research throughout the United States,
also declares that States are required to identify historic bridges listed in the National Bridge Inventory.
Furthermore, it requires the Transportation Research Board to review and develop rehabilitation
standards for historic bridges, as well as setting forth minimum allocations for each state for the
purposes of transportation planning and research.
Program Comment for Common Post-1945 Concrete and Steel Bridges
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
The Program Comment issued by the ACHP addresses undertakings that affect a number of common
concrete and steel bridges and culverts located throughout the country and whose construction was
generally standardized in the years after 1945. A Program Comment is an alternative to Section 106
review that allows a Federal agency to request the ACHP to comment on a category of undertakings in
lieu of conducting individual reviews under Sections 800.4 through 800.6 of the Section 106 regulations
(36 CFR Part 800). This guidance provides instructions for the use of the "Program Comment for
Common Post-1945 Concrete and Steel Bridges" issued by the ACHP for compliance with Section 106 of
the NHPA for certain common types of bridges or culverts that were built after 1945 and approach or
exceed 50 years old.
The following types of bridges fall within the scope of Program Comment: reinforced concrete slab
bridges, reinforced concrete beam and girder bridges, steel multi-beam or multi-girder bridges, and
culverts and reinforced concrete boxes. The Program Comment does not apply to bridges and culverts
that are already NRHP-listed or NRHP-eligible; less common bridge types such as arch bridges, truss
bridges, bridges with moveable spans, suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges, or covered bridges;
bridges and culverts on the Bridge Program Comment Excepted Bridges List published by the FHWA, and
bridges and culverts on tribal lands.
Exemption Regarding Historic Preservation Review Process for Effects to the Interstate Highway
System
In 2005, the ACHP published the "Exemption Regarding Historic Preservation Review Process for Effects
to the Interstate Highway System," which effectively excludes the majority of the 46,700-mile Interstate
Highway System (IHS)from consideration as a historic property under Section 106 of the NHPA. The
exemption is not applicable for(1) elements that are at least 50 years old, possess national significance,
and meet the National Register eligibility criteria; (2) elements that are less than 50 years old, possess
national significance, meet the NRHP eligibility criteria, and are of exceptional importance; and (3)
elements that were listed in the NRHP or determined eligible for the NRHP prior to 2005 or elements
constructed prior to June 30, 1956, that were later incorporated into the IHS, possess state or local
significance, and meet the NRHP eligibility criteria.
In Hawaii, interstates H-1 and H-2 on Oahu are exempt from further consideration. This exemption
applies to bridges, culverts, flyovers, ramps, and other features constructed as part of those highways.
However, a portion of H-3 was identified as exceptionally significant:the Trans-Koolau Route segment
from milepost 4.2 to 7.9 was constructed in 1997 and identified as having national significance and
exceptional importance under item (2) listed above.
In addition to the broad IHS exemption, the SAFETEA-LU includes a provision (Section 6007)that
exempts the bulk of the IHS from consideration as a historic property under Section 4(f) of the
Department of Transportation Act. With these two exemptions in place, Federal agencies are no longer
required to consider the vast majority of the IHS as a historic property under Section 106 and Section
4(f) requirements.
Historic Bridges Programmatic Agreement
Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 800.14(b), HDOT, in coordination with the FHWA, is currently developing a
Programmatic Agreement(PA)to address Federal-aid Highway Program projects specific to historic
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
bridges throughout Hawaii. The program PA, entitled the Programmatic Agreement among the Federal
Highway Administration, U.S.Army Corps of Engineers Honolulu District, the Hawaii State Historic
Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regarding Hawaii Historic Bridge
No Adverse Effect Projects(Historic Bridges PA or PA), seeks to make the Section 106 compliance
process more efficient for certain types of projects that affect historic bridges as identified in this SHBIE.
1.3 HISTORIC BRIDGE IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION METHODS
Since the 1980s, several studies have been prepared to document Hawaii's historic bridges. These
bridges were first identified in the following reports: Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Oahu prepared
by Bethany Thompson in June 1983; Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Island of Hawaii, prepared
by Patricia Alvarez in July 1987; Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Kauai prepared by Spencer Mason
Architects in October 1989; and Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Islands of Maui and Molokai
prepared by The Hawaii Heritage Center in September 1990. In 2008, the Heritage Center, School of
Architecture, and UH-Manoa combined these reports into a comprehensive Historic Bridge Inventory
and Evaluation for HDOT in order to form a comprehensive perspective across the islands.4
In 2013, MKE Associates LLC and Fung Associates, Inc. prepared the Hawaii State Historic Bridge
Inventory and Evaluation (SHBIE)that identified and evaluated 707 bridges constructed between 1894
and 1968 on the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii. The 2013 SHBIE established a
precedent for regular updates of the historic bridge inventory.
2008 SHIBE DRAFT REPORT
The draft 2008 report first examined the multiple property listings for Historic Highway Bridges of
Hawaii (1894-1941) which is based upon inventory surveys completed for each county between 1983
and 1990.5 The County surveys identified and evaluated 379 bridges constructed prior to 1941: 127 on
Oahu, 119 on Hawaii Island, 51 on Kauai, and 82 on Maui. The bridges were ranked, based on numerical
ratings, under one of the following categories:
• Category I—those with high historical significance
• Category II—those bridges that have considerable historic significance but not enough research
available to warrant being placed in Category I, or
• Category III—those bridges with little, or no, historical significance.
4 Patricia Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Island of Hawaii(Honolulu, 1987); Hawaii
Heritage Center, Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Islands of Maui and Molokai(Honolulu, 1990);
Bethany Thompson, Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Oahu (Honolulu, 1983); Spencer Mason
Architects, Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Kauai(Honolulu, 1989);The Heritage Center, School of
Architecture at the University of Hawaii at Manoa,State of Hawaii Historic Bridge Inventory and
Evaluation, Prepared for the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, Highways Division, in
cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (Honolulu,
2008).
5 Patricia Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Island of Hawaii(Honolulu, 1987); Hawaii
Heritage Center, Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Islands of Maui and Molokai(Honolulu, 1990);
Bethany Thompson, Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Oahu (Honolulu, 1983); Spencer Mason
Architects, Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Kauai(Honolulu, 1989).
8
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Previous County surveys were each completed by a different consultant to HDOT and utilized a different
rating system, which resulted in apparent inconsistencies. For example, only 3%of Maui County bridges
were placed in Category I, while the Kauai inventory included 31%of its bridges in Category I. Criteria
were revised for improved consistency, and the bridges were reevaluated within a statewide historical
context in the draft 2008 inventory and utilized new statewide criteria.
2013 SHBIE REPORT
Upon request from the HDOT and in response to the ACHP's Program Comment regarding post-1945
bridges, the 2013 SHBIE utilized and revised information provided in the draft 2008 report to reflect a
more detailed current analysis of historic bridges in Hawaii. From the draft 2008 report, approximately
550 additional bridges were added to the overall inventory to include County-owned bridges and
bridges built prior to 1968. Community members were asked for their input to help identify bridges that
may have historical significance, and they provided valuable insight into the final selection of bridges
determined to be eligible and of"high preservation value."
The 2013 SHBIE included individual inventory forms for each bridge as well as a bridge list that
categorized 707 bridges and identified each bridge's NRHP status. The list includes a brief description of
character-defining features (if any)for each bridge. Historic status of the bridges were organized into
five categories:
• Eligible—High Preservation Value: Bridges within this category included those that were
identified as generally unique or possessed characteristics of a type and exhibited high degrees
of historic integrity. These were recommended for listing in the HRHP or NRHP. The 2013 SHBIE
identified 208 of 707 bridges as "High Preservation Value."
• Eligible: Bridges which under this category included those that were not the best example of a
type and were not unique. The report recommended HDOT consider maintaining bridges in this
category, as through attrition, these may become rare examples of a type at some point in time.
The 2013 SHBIE identified 176 of 707 bridges as NRHP-eligible.
• Not Eligible: Bridges considered not eligible for listing included those that had lost considerable
historic integrity or did not exhibit any qualities that conveyed historic significance. The 2013
SHBIE identified 94 of 707 bridges as not eligible.
• Non-Contributing:Several bridges were identified as non-contributing, which were bridges
within a historic district that did not contribute to the significance of the historic district, either
by lack of historic integrity or construction outside of the historic district's period of significance,
for example. The 2013 SHBIE identified 10 of 707 bridges as non-contributing;these bridges
received individual forms.
• Program Comments: Post-1945 bridges of common construction methods and materials, as well
as bridges associated with the interstate highway, fell under the Program Comments
designation. The 2013 SHBIE identified 219 of 707 bridges in this category.
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
The 2013 SHBIE also involved an extensive community outreach effort and included convening a Historic
Bridge Committee that acted in an advisory capacity for the project.
2024 SHBIE UPDATE
This 2024 SHBIE update includes the 2013 SHBIE baseline of 707 bridges constructed between 1894 and
1968 and adds to the list 196 bridges constructed between 1968 and 1977. The scope of work for the
update also included:
1. Updating the historic context through the 1980s
2. Reevaluating bridges identified as HDOT's 100 Priority Bridges
3. Identifying changes since the 2013 SHBIE including bridge replacements or major alterations
4. Providing clear and concise evaluations using the NRHP Criteria for Evaluation and aspects of
integrity
As part of this update, bridges identified in the 2013 SHBIE as "High Preservation Value" have been
reclassified as NRHP-listed or NRHP-eligible, or as a significant historic property under 6E, as
appropriate, and in accordance with state and federal historic preservation terminology. "High
Preservation Value" holds no legal meaning and lacks a standard definition, obfuscating NRHP
evaluation and Section 106 compliance. Bridges designated as "High Preservation Value" in 2013 that
are not receiving an updated inventory form will be redesignated as eligible within the bridge lists with a
footnote indicating their former"High Preservation Value" status.
The 2024 SHBIE update did not reevaluate all 707 bridges from the 2013 SHBIE. However, of the total
number of bridges now included in the SHBIE, the 2024 SHBIE update reviewed and/or provided an
evaluation or information on 350 bridges constructed in 1977 or earlier in the following categories:
• Priority Bridges:These are 100 previously identified NRHP-eligible or NRHP-listed bridges that
HDOT has prioritized for future projects. All HDOT priority bridges were reevaluated on updated
inventory forms and are included in this 2024 SHBIE update. 98 out of 100 priority bridges were
state-owned and 2 out of 100 priority bridges were county-owned.
• Potentially Altered:These are 47 NRHP-eligible or NRHP-listed bridges constructed before 1977
but altered since 2013. Review determined if the alterations potentially changed the bridge's
eligibility status and warranted an update to the 2013 inventory form. Two of 47 bridges
underwent alterations that changed the bridge's eligibility status;these bridges received an
updated inventory form.
• Previously Unevaluated:These 196 bridges were constructed between 1968 and 1977 and cover
the expanded context of the 2024 SHBIE Report. Unless evaluation of these bridges determined
otherwise, the majority fell under the post-1945 bridges Program Comment and/or IHS
exemption and did not receive inventory forms, consistent with the approach taken in the 2013
SHBIE.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
• Replaced Historic Bridge:These include 13 NRHP-eligible and NRHP-listed bridges previously
evaluated in 2013 that have been replaced by new bridges. Two of these 13 bridges fell within
Kauai Belt Road (North Shore Section) and received updated inventory forms.
Bridges that did not receive updated inventory forms have had their 2013 SHBIE inventory forms carried
over into this 2024 SHBIE. Bridge inventory forms have been organized into appendices by island with
accompanying matrices and will appear in the following order:
Appendix A—Island of Kauai
Appendix B—Island of Oahu
Appendix C—Islands of Maui and Molokai
Appendix D—Island of Hawaii
Each appendix is divided into three sections, 1) 2024 Updated Bridge Matrix(State-and County-Owned),
2) 2013 State Bridge Matrix, and 3) 2013 County Bridge Matrix
Two additional appendices, Appendix E and Appendix F, provide additional information and
documentation carried over from the 2013 SHBIE and was updated when necessary.
Appendix E—Supplemental Information, is carried over from the 2013 SHBIE and includes a glossary of
terms, a list of significant bridge designers, and bridge rehabilitation guidelines. The 2024 SHBIE has
included the preservation plans for Kuhio Highway and Hana Highway in Appendix E.
Appendix F—National Register Nominations, Historic Districts and District Recommendations, includes
NRHP nomination forms organized by island. These forms have been carried over to this inventory,
except for bridges that have been replaced, in addition to NRHP nomination forms that have been
prepared after 2013. Appendix F also includes matrices for NRHP historic districts and 2013 SHBIE
proposed historic districts.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INVENTORY FORM UPDATES
For this update, investigation methods included review of bridge inspection reports and previous bridge
inventory surveys; information obtained through HDOT records, online records, and local repositories;
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and NRHP documentation;and photographs from HDOT
Districts and County DOTs.
Like the 2013 SHBIE, this 2024 SHBIE update used inventory forms providing both technical and
historical information for each bridge. These inventory forms are organized similar to the 2013 SHBIE
inventory forms and include additional information where requested by HDOT or other stakeholder
organizations or agencies. Information provided on each inventory form includes the following (when
available):
• General Information: Bridge Number, Tax Map Key, Common Name, Historic Name, Feature
Crossed, Feature Carried, Island, Milepost, Latitude/Longitude, Ownership, Photograph,
Location Map
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
• Construction Information: Bridge Type, Construction Date, Designer/Engineer,
Builder/Contractor, Alteration Date(s), Alteration Description
• Historic Information: NRHP Status, NRHP Criteria, NRHP Registration Number; HRHP Status,
SIHP Number; 6E Status, 6E Criteria;Aspects of Integrity; Historic District Status,
Contributing/Non-Contributing Status; Current Function, Historic Function;Areas of Significance,
Period of Significance, Supplemental Documentation (When Appropriate); Narrative Description;
Statement of Significance; Historic Images and Drawings (when available); References;
Additional Photographs.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The 2024 SHBIE update included early meetings with FHWA on February 9, 2022, and with SHPD on
February 15, 2022. An additional meeting occurred with the Historic Hawaii Foundation (HHF) on July
11, 2023, and two stakeholder meetings with a broader group that included HHF were held on August
16, 2023. The stakeholder meetings were organized to explain proposed changes and updates to the
SHBIE and provide instructions for coordinating stakeholders to photograph bridges. Invited
stakeholders included:
• HDOT
• FHWA
• County DPWs
• State Historic Preservation Division
• HHF
• Pulamai a Kona Heritage Preservation Council
• County of Maui, Cultural Resources Commission
• Kauai Historic Preservation Review Commission
• County of Kauai Planning Department
• Hanalei Roads Committee
• Kauai Historic Society
• DLNR Aha Moku Advisory Committee
• Department of Hawaiian Home Lands
• Office of Hawaiian Affairs
• Aha Moku 0 Kahikinui
• Aha Moku 0 Kula Makai
• Aha Moku 0 Maui
• Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands
• Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
• Friends of Moku`ula
• Kuloloi`a Lineage- I Ke Kai`o Kuloloi`a
• Na Aikane O Maui
• Nekaifes Ohana
• Paukukalo Hawaiian Homes Community Association
• Waiehu Kou Phase 3 Association
• Members of the Public
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
2024 SHBIE UPDATE SUMMARY
The number of bridges included in the SHBIE now totals 902. The following tables summarize bridge
information included in this update.
TABLE 1.SUMMARY TABLE OF ALL BRIDGES IN 2024 MATRICES
Island Listed Eligible Not Eligible Program Total
g g Comments
Kauai 2024 State Updated 5 5 2 0 12
Kauai 2024 County Updated 0 0 0 0 0
Kauai 2013 State 0 10 10 21 41
Kauai 2013 County 0 14 5 0 19
Kauai Total 5 29 17 21 72
Oahu 2024 State Updated 0 28 6 0 34
Oahu 2024 County Updated 0 0 0 0 0
Oahu 2013 State 0 48 102 114 264
Oahu 2013 County 0 53 18 113 184
Oahu Total 0 129 126 227 482
Maui and Molokai 2024 State 41 5 2 0 48
Updated
Maui and Molokai 2024 County 0 0 0 0 0
Updated
Maui and Molokai 2013 State 0 16 10 14 40
Maui and Molokai 2013 County 0 20 11 10 41
Maui and Molokai Total 41 42 23 24 129
Hawaii 2024 State Updated 0 5 3 0 8
Hawaii 2024 County Updated 0 2 0 0 2
Hawaii 2013 State 0 41 22 46 109
Hawaii 2013 County 0 73 1 26 100
Hawaii Total 0 121 26 72 219
Overall Total 46 320 192 344 902
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
The following bridges on HDOT's Priority Bridge list were previously determined eligible in the 2013
SHBIE and have been reevaluated and determined not eligible. These bridges have updated forms in the
relevant appendix.
TABLE 2. BRIDGES DETERMINED NOT ELIGIBLE
Island Bridge Number Bridge Name
Kauai 007056000400161 Kapaa Temporary Bypass Road - Kainahola Stream Bridge
Oahu 003000990402053 Kalauao Springs (Eastbound)
Oahu 003000990402054 Kalauao Springs (Westbound)
Oahu 003000830300869 Paumalu Stream
Oahu 003000830301059 Waialee Stream
Oahu 003000830302242 Waimanana Stream
Maui 009000300304184 Papanahoa Bridge
Maui 009003400500004 Waiehu Twin 12 ft. Culvert
Hawaii 001000110310346 2-Metal Pipe Culvert
Hawaii 001000110310424 2-Metal Pipe Culvert
Hawaii 001000110310410 3-Metal Pipe Culvert
The following bridges were previously determined eligible in the 2013 SHBIE and have been reevaluated
and determined not eligible due to substantial alterations. Because of the nature of these alterations,
these bridges have updated inventory forms in the relevant appendix.
TABLE 3. BRIDGES ALTERED AFTER 2013
Island Bridge Number Bridge Name
Kauai 007000500001694 Eleele Pedestrian Overpass
Oahu 003000830301255 Kuilima-Oio Stream
Since 2013, the following bridges have been constructed and replaced previously identified historic
bridges. Unless noted otherwise, these forms have been removed from the relevant appendix.
TABLE 4. BRIDGES REPLACED AFTER 2013
Isla o :ridge Numbe Bridge Name
Waipa Stream Bridge (Replaced bridge 007005600500396)
Kauai 007005600500397 Since the original bridge was located in the NRHP-listed Kauai Belt Road
(North Shore Section), a new inventory form has been prepared.
Kauai 007000500301632 Hanapepe River Bridge (Replaced bridge 007000500301631)
Kauai 007000560300986 Kapaa Stream Bridge (Replaced bridge 007000560300985)
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Island Bridge Number Bridge Name
Kauai 007000500403272 Nawiliwili Stream Bridge (Lihue Mill) (Replaced bridge
007000500403271)
Kauai 007420201142006 Opaekaa Bridge (Replaced bridge 007420151142001)
Kauai 007420201144002 Puuopae Bridge (Replaced bridge 007440111144001)
Waikoko Stream Bridge (Replaced bridge 007005600500427)
Kauai 007005600500428 Since the original bridge was located in the NRHP-listed Kauai Belt Road
(North Shore Section), a new inventory form has been prepared.
Oahu 003000830301358 Hoolapa Stream-Nanahu (Replaced bridge 003000830301357)
Kaipapau Stream (003000830302099)
Oahu n/a This bridge replacement is ongoing. No new bridge number will be
assigned prior to its initial inventory inspection.
Oahu 003000830301141 Kawela Stream Bridge (Replaced bridge 003000830301140)
Maui 009000310900001 Kulanihakoa No. 76 (Replaced 009000310900001)
Hawaii 001000110306490 Hilea Stream Bridge (Replaced 001000110306489)
Hawaii 001000110306601 Ninole Stream Bridge (Replaced 001000110306600)
1.4 USING THE 2024 SHBIE UPDATE WITH THE HISTORIC BRIDGES PA
Information in this section is being provided to incorporate the concurrent effort to execute the Historic
Bridges PA. The PA relies on the Historic Bridge List originally developed in 2013 and updated in this
SHBIE to identify historic bridges in Hawaii that may be covered by the PA. Early in project development,
HDOT staff or its consultants, should review the information in this SHBIE prior to developing plans for
bridge projects. Inventory forms provide information for previously surveyed historic bridges and
identify original and character-defining features, alterations, significance, and integrity. The Historic
Bridges PA does not apply to bridges that are not historic as identified in the Historic Bridge List.
PROJECT REVIEW USING THE HISTORIC BRIDGES PA
Once a bridge is identified as a historic bridge through review of the SHBIE and early in the project
planning process, proposed improvements may fall within one of the three tiers described in the Historic
Bridges PA. If a bridge project does not fall within one of the tiers, then the standard Section 106
process will apply to the project. Regardless of application of the Historic Bridges PA, HDOT staff and its
consultants must consult the SHBIE for any bridge project. A Best Practices Manual has been developed
that describes application of the SOI Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties as they apply to
historic bridges. This manual further assists HDOT and its consultants during project development in
understanding appropriate treatments that will retain a historic bridge's character-defining features and
thus its significance and integrity. Application of the Historic Bridges PA requires documentation on a
Historic Bridges PA Compliance Form with supporting information and documentation as required.
The Historic Bridge PA has developed tiers of projects with varying levels of review requirements.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Tier 1:Activities with No Potential to Cause Effects
Activities in this tier are those that would cause minimal changes to historic bridges and includes, but is
not limited to, certain cleaning and painting activities, minor asphalt repairs, certain utility repairs, in-
kind repair or replacement of existing non-structural bridge components, and some non-destructive
material sampling, testing, or sensor placement.
Tier 2:Activities with No Adverse Effects Pending Application of Guidance in the Best Practices Manual
Activities in this tier must follow the Best Practices Manual's Tier 2 guidance and requires consistency
with the SOI Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Work covered by Tier 2 includes and is
not limited to masonry and mortar repair and cleaning, concrete sealing and repairs, in-kind
replacement of structural members, vegetation clearing, scour repair, utility repair or replacement,
replacement of wearing surfaces, minor repairs to railings or parapets, sidewalk repairs and
maintenance, cleaning with spray or brushes, and repainting of entire structures.
Tier 3:Activities with No Adverse Effects Pending Application of Guidance in the Best Practices Manual
and with Approval of an SOI-Qualified Professional
Activities in this tier require involvement of an SOI-qualified professional to assess a project's effects on
the historic bridge and determine whether the project qualifies for review under the Historic Bridges PA.
Tier 3 activities must follow the Best Practices Manual's Tier 3 guidance and requires consistency with
the SOI Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Projects that occur within potential, eligible,
or listed historic districts automatically fall under Tier 3.
Work covered by Tier 3 includes and is not limited to more extensive masonry and mortar repair and
cleaning using chemicals, concrete sealing using epoxy and in-kind repairs that replicate sculptural
reliefs or designs, extensive in-kind replacement of structural members or addition of new structural
members, vegetation clearing that also requires masonry removal, new scour repair, installation of new
utilities, evaluation of remnant bridge structures or components, replacement of wearing surfaces with
new materials that differ from existing, major repairs to railings or parapets that may involve changing
the original appearance, sidewalk modifications for accessibility or installation of new pedestrian paths,
cleaning with high-pressure spray or application of anti-graffiti coatings, and painting of previously
unpainted structures.
If any activities within Tier 3 may result in an adverse effect on a historic bridge, as determined following
review by an SOI-qualified professional, then the Historic Bridges PA will not apply, and the project must
go through the standard Section 106 process.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
2.0: BRIDGE IDENTIFICATION
FEDERAL DEFINITION
The Federal government defines a bridge as a structure erected over a depression or an obstruction with
a track or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving loads, and having an opening measured along
the center of the roadway of more than 20 feet between undercopings of abutments or springlines of
arches (23 C.F.R. § 650.403). This definition is used as a criterion for eligibility to use Federal funds and
includes all bridges that are inspected every two years. Due to this definition, HDOT does not maintain
the same records for the bridges or culverts less than 20 feet. Pedestrian and other non-vehicular
bridges were sometimes included in the inventory when listed on the National Bridge Inventory(NBI).
Counties can opt to place a pedestrian bridge on the NBI to qualify for Federal funding.
IDENTIFICATION OF BRIDGE COMPONENTS
TOTAL BRIDGE LENGTH
RAILING DECK
LSUPERSTRUCTURE
SPAN LENGTH
SUBSTRUCTURE SUBSTRUCTURE
(ABUTMENT) (PIER)
FIGURE 1. BRIDGE COMPONENTS.SOURCE:MKE ASSOCIATES LLC,2013.
SUMMARY OF BRIDGE TYPES IN HAWAII6
Bridge type is defined by the form or method in which the structure functions. It is not exclusively
determined by any of the following: materials, method of connection, type of span, or if the bridge
structure exists above or below the grade.
6 The following bridge descriptions are drawn from the following source: Parsons Brinckerhoff and
Engineering and Industrial Heritage,A Context for Common Historic Bridge Types, NCHRP Project 25-25,
Task 15, prepared for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Transportation Research
Council, National Research Council (October 2005).
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
The historic bridges of Hawaii are composed of several different material and structural types: masonry
arch bridges (frequently constructed of local basalt, often referred to as lava rock); steel truss and
stringer bridges;timber stringer bridges; and concrete solid-and open-spandrel arch bridges, deck girder
bridges including tee beam types, flat slab bridges, and rigid-frame bridges. The most prevalent
construction material for Hawaii's existing bridges is reinforced concrete since the corrosive nature of
the salt air from the Pacific Ocean and the presence of insects makes the maintenance of steel and
wooden bridges less practical than in the continental United States. Stone, sand, gravel, and lime are
found in abundance in the islands; however, reinforcing steel was imported from the U.S. mainland.
MASONRY ARCH BRIDGES
---- -*o° 11/60zu--N—owmama190011 ■tist —N--EN--
r4011 maw mop
► vrolmsFir 4P
•
�■ • � Spandrel ���
FIGURE 2. MASONRY ARCH BRIDGE.
Description
Unreinforced masonry arch bridges are the most common remaining nineteenth-century bridge building
technology and was among the first permanent bridge type constructed in the islands. Masonry arch
bridges were constructed in Hawaii from approximately 1840, when the first recorded bridge was built,
to 1904, when the Territory made it standard practice to use reinforced concrete for bridge building.
These bridges were generally constructed in residential areas over small or intermittent streams along
important transportation arteries. The remaining masonry arch bridges in Hawaii are generally small,
single-span circular arches with solid spandrels, a span of fifteen to thirty feet and a relatively low-rise
over the stream bed. Although usually quite narrow(eight to twelve feet)for wagon traffic, some
examples are quite wide (such as the thirty-foot wide Mamalahoa-Pukihae Bridge and Mamalahoa-
Kalalau Bridge), demonstrating forethought uncommon for its time. Masonry arch bridges in Hawaii are
constructed of local basalt also known as lava rock. This material was commonly used as basalt rubble
set in an ashlar pattern for the spandrel walls and parapets. Occasionally, carefully cut blocks with
dressed margins were utilized for the parapets. Coursed blocks, twelve to twenty-four inches in
diameter, were used for the arch ring, although rare examples of concrete or brick arch rings remain.
Significance
Stone was abundant in Hawaii, and stone arches at Nuuanu and Waikiki on the island of Oahu were
among the first bridges constructed by the Kingdom of Hawaii's Interior Department in the 1840s.
However, no known bridges constructed by the Kingdom remain. Masonry arch bridges continued to be
constructed by the Republic of Hawaii, which was established between the overthrow of the Hawaiian
monarchy and the annexation of Hawaii by the United States (1893-1898), and by the early Territorial
government prior to the establishment of the county governments (1898-1904). The nineteenth-century
bridges, built by the Republic of Hawaii, were generally constructed by prison labor and were part of the
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
upgrading of the Hawaii belt roads that had begun in King Kalakaua's reign (1874-1892). After
annexation in 1898, the practice of letting contracts to professional builders was used more widely in
the islands.
Several masonry arches remain along the Mamalahoa Highway on the island of Hawaii, and on the Hana
Highway on Maui. These routes were once the primary transportation arteries in their regions. The
Mamalahoa and Hana Highways are characterized by narrow, winding lanes and innumerable streams
and gulches. The Mamalahoa Highway was bypassed by the construction of a new belt road in the
1930s, leaving intact a high concentration of historic bridges. The numerous single-lane bridges of the
Hana district have been preserved due to the lack of development along this remote region of Maui.
Unlike timber, or later concrete and steel bridges, masonry-arch bridges utilized locally available
construction materials. However, construction of stone bridges, which employed arch building
technology imported from the United States and Europe, required skilled labor which was scarce in the
islands. The Hawaiians were skilled in laying stone and had a long tradition of dry masonry-rubble
construction, a technique utilized for heiau (temples), house platforms, walls, and agricultural terraces.
Unfortunately, by the mid-1800s, the decimation of the native population by disease resulted in a
chronic shortage of labor. After 1885 imported labor, particularly Portuguese and Japanese masons,
oversaw the construction of masonry arch bridges.
Important builders involved in the construction of masonry arch bridges include Louis M. Whitehouse
and John H. Wilson. Whitehouse was one of Hawaii's most prolific early contractors. In partnership with
Wilson (who later served six terms as Mayor of Honolulu), he built the first section of the Nuuanu-Pali
Road on Oahu, part of the Belt Road on the island of Hawaii, and several masonry arch bridges, including
the Mamalahoa-Pukihae, Mamalahoa-Laupahoehoe and Nuuanu Avenue arch bridges. With another
partner named Hawxhurst, he built the 1903 Waiakea and Wailuku River steel bridges in Hilo (both since
replaced).
Masonry arch bridges are generally eligible under National Register Criterion A and C. Masonry arch
bridges are eligible under Criterion C as notable examples of the use of vernacular building materials and
the artisanship of local craftsmen. The local basalts which compose the lava rock used in bridge
construction are unique to Hawaii and the islands of the Pacific;thus, these masonry arch bridges may
be the only representatives of this type in the United States.
Eligibility Requirements
The bridge must retain its integrity of location. Since masonry arch bridges were constructed as
permanent structures, all extant examples are in their original location. The setting of the bridge must
remain relatively unchanged; by-passing the original transportation artery with a new highway does not
necessarily exclude a property if the bridge's immediate surroundings retain its historic qualities.
The design of the bridge, particularly the arch sub-structure and the spandrel walls, must also retain its
integrity. Alterations that may be considered acceptable include those that occurred early in the bridge's
history(i.e., within the period of significance) and in such a way that the alterations are reversible
without diminishing the significant historic characteristics of the original bridge (by widening or
lengthening the bridge by the construction of an adjacent concrete culvert, for example).
o¢ 19
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
The bridge's original materials, particularly the basalt or brick used in the arch ring and vault, must not
be adversely affected by alterations or additions. The quality of the original workmanship must remain
apparent, with substantial evidence of artisan's labor and skill. The bridges must retain a high degree of
historic feeling, and their associations must be apparent to the informed or casual observer.
METAL BRIDGES
i
IF
, 1r_ 0
f.
Transverse Section
Elevation
FIGURE 3.THROUGH TRUSS BRIDGE.
'... .,,,,,\ ilVVIVA N , a.. ,..........i.*......
' A f/
n f
„... . '
\
_ Transverse Section
FIGURE 4. PONY TRUSS BRIDGE.
\ -7N...\\i/V\ /1.\-, .
,V�".,1r , , Transverse Section
Bsys cn
FIGURE 5. DECK TRUSS BRIDGE.
cIII: ! 20
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
w ... �`s '\ !_..
Elevation
FIGURE 6. PRATT TRUSS(DIAGONAL)BRIDGE.
i/VVir\AA
Elevation
FIGURE 7.WARREN TRUSS BRIDGE.
/7.1147)(4\\-Ill\
Elevation
FIGURE 8. HOWE TRUSS BRIDGE.
Description
Although metal bridge construction was prevalent in Hawaii around the turn of the century, only steel
stringer bridges continued to be built through the first half of the twentieth century. Due to the
extremely corrosive nature of the marine environment in Hawaii, there are only a handful of metal
bridges that remain. These extant metal bridges are of three basic types: steel and wrought iron trusses,
steel stringer bridges, and steel trestle railroad bridges.
Steel and Iron Trusses
Steel and wrought iron trusses were commonly utilized in Hawaii until 1904, when the territorial
government advocated the construction of more durable concrete bridges. Metal trusses were
fabricated by British and American manufacturers and shipped to the islands to be erected by local
contractors. Consequently, truss types were similar to those found in the United Kingdom and the
United States (Pratt, Warren and Howe types). The Pratt trusses are distinguished by thick vertical
members acting in compression and thin diagonal members in tension. This design reduced the length
of the compression members to prevent them from bending or buckling. The Warren design is basically
triangular with the diagonals alternately in compression and tension. A through truss carries its traffic
load level with the bottom chords of the truss. A pony truss is a through truss with no lateral bracing
between the top chords.
In 1884, ten metal truss bridges were shipped to Hawaii by the Pacific Bridge Company, with offices in
Portland and San Francisco, for erection in the Hilo district on the island of Hawaii. The islands' largest
and most expensive nineteenth-century metal truss bridge was erected at the mouth of the Wailua River
on Kauai in 1890. The bridge was manufactured by Alex Findlay&Co. of Motherwell, Scotland. In 1919,
one Warren truss segment of this bridge was utilized to construct the Opaekaa Stream Bridge#1 on
Kauai. The Opaekaa Stream Bridge#1, listed on the NRHP in 1983, is the only remaining iron truss bridge
of British manufacture in the United States. Only two twentieth-century trusses remain in the state: the
1932 Karsten Thot Bridge, a Warren truss erected in Wahiawa, Oahu; and a Pratt truss segment from the
41II
21
-,FP
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
1924 Wailuku River Railroad Bridge which was scavenged for reuse in the Kolekole Highway Bridge after
the 1946 tsunami in Hilo. The 1912 Hanalei Bridge, a twentieth-century Pratt truss that crosses the
Hanalei River on Kauai, was rehabilitated in 2003 in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's
Standards for Rehabilitation;this bridge remains on the NRHP as a contributing resource of the Kauai
Belt Road.
4 - 4,
A a A
• -
FIGURE 9.STEEL STRINGER ELEVATION (DRAWING PROVIDED BY MKE ASSOCIATES LLC,2013).
FIGURE 10.STEEL STRINGER SECTION(DRAWING PROVIDED BY MKE ASSOCIATES LLC,2013).
Steel Stringer
Steel stringers were constructed in Hawaii primarily for industrial and railroad bridges. Ornamentation,
if any, is usually limited to the pattern of the railings. The two extant examples from the period of
significance were constructed over railroad lines in Maui and Kauai. One is the the Waiale Drive Bridge
on Kaahumanu Avenue in Wailuku, Maui. This bridge was constructed with U.S. Works Program Grade
Crossing funding, which provided federal money without the usual match requirement, to build bridges
separating railroad and road grades. The use of steel, uncommon in Hawaii due to the extreme marine
environment, may reflect the requirements of the U.S. Grade Crossing Program. Since very little steel is
used for bridge construction in Hawaii, this may be considered an unusual structural type. It should be
noted that there are numerous steel stringer bridges that feature wood plank decks and wood railings. If
still extant, these bridges are addressed as timber bridges since their appearance to the general public is
wood.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
J j [ - ° i . . . - . .
ALJL
\\\
•
11 7
FIGURE 11.STEEL TRESTLE BRIDGE(DRAWING PROVIDED BY MKE ASSOCIATES LLC,2013).
Steel Trestle Railroad Bridges
Fourteen steel trestle railroad bridges were constructed in 1911 for the Hilo Railroad Company. Five of
these (Hakalau, Nanue, Kapue, Paheehee, and Umauma) were reconstructed as territorial highway
bridges between 1951 and 1953, the remaining nine were salvaged for use in the reconstruction. The
reconstructed steel trestle structures are topped with a concrete and asphalt highway deck. During their
conversion, the bridges were widened for highway use by the addition of members from other railroad
bridges. The simple horizontal concrete railings were added during the 1951-53 renovations.
Significance
The period of significance for metal truss and stringer bridges begins in 1912, when the earliest
remaining example was erected, and ends in 1957. The period of significance for steel trestle railroad
bridges begins in 1911, when they were first constructed, and ends in 1953, after their conversion to
highway bridges. Metal bridges are eligible under Criterion A if they contributed in a meaningful way to
the settlement and development of a geographically definable area, facilitated major passage to or
through a region, or been significantly integral to the development of an effective transportation
system. Metal truss bridges in Hawaii are significant as representative examples of the expanding capital
investment and control that American manufacturers had gained over their British and German rivals as
a consequence of the U.S. annexation of the islands in 1898. The steel stringer bridges are significant for
their association with the railroads of the sugar industry. They were built with U.S. Works Program
Grade Crossing funding which provided federal money, without the usual match requirement, to build
bridges separating railroad and road grades. The erection of metal truss and stringer bridges was a
deliberate effort by the territorial government to construct permanent public works improvements
requesting the latest technology.
The remaining metal truss and stringer bridges are eligible under Criterion C as rare survivors of a once
common bridge type and as representative examples of the work of important engineers and builders.
These include Joseph H. Moragne of the Kauai Department of Public Works, who oversaw the
construction of the Hanalei River Pratt Truss in 1912 (replaced in 2003).James L. Young was responsible
for building the Karsten Thot Warren truss over the North Fork of the Kaukonahua Stream in Wahiawa,
Oahu in 1932. Young, the founder of J. L. Young Engineering Company, was "in the literal sense of the
phrase, a builder of Hawaii."'Young was trained as a civil engineer and an architect. He designed and
constructed the first two reinforced-concrete fireproof buildings in Honolulu, the Pantheon Block and
the laboratory building at the Bishop Museum. Between 1922 and 1925, Young built over forty-one
buildings in Honolulu, including Palama Settlement, the Library of Hawaii (Hawaii State Library), and the
'George F. Nellist, "The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1925, 911-912.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
"new library building at the University of Hawaii,"the present-day George Hall.$ He also constructed
buildings on many military bases, including Fort Shafter, Fort Ruger, Fort Kamehameha and Schofield
Barracks.
The most significant steel stringer bridges were designed by William Bartels, chief designer for the
Territorial Highways Department. Bartels arrived in Hawaii from Germany in 1932, working as a bridge
engineer for the Territory until his retirement in 1952. He was responsible for the largest and most
sophisticated bridge construction projects in Hawaii during this time.
The converted steel trestle and girder railroad bridges have potential National Register significance
under criterion A and C. The railroad line played a major role in the development of the Hilo and the
Hamakua Coast by providing transportation to the harbor for the island's sugar production. The Hilo
Railroad Company was founded by Benjamin Franklin Dillingham and figures significant in the history of
the Hawaiian Islands. The railroad and its numerous bridges together have been called the "greatest
engineering feat in Hawaii."The railroad advertised its scenic route as "the greatest engineering feat in
Hawaii."'Another commentator noted that the completion of the railroad marked nothing less than "an
era in the development of the Islands."10 In addition, the converted railroad bridges are the remains of
the only standard gauge rail line erected in the islands and can tell us much about early twentieth
century steel manufacturing. The bridges represent the Work of a Master:John Mason Young, designer
of the original railroad line and bridges; as well as William R. Bartels, of the Territorial Highways
Department, who engineered their conversion from railroad to highway use in the 1950s.
Eligibility Requirements
Metal truss, stringer and trestle bridges must retain their integrity of location. However, relocation of
the structure within the period of significance is interpreted as part of the history of the bridge. The
design of the bridge, particularly the superstructure and connections, must also retain its integrity.
Alterations may be considered acceptable if they were completed early in the bridge's history(within
the period of significance) and they are reversible without diminishing the significant historic
characteristics of the original bridge (e.g. the addition of a completely independent additional truss to
support the weakened original structure or widening with members salvaged from identical spans). The
setting of the bridge must remain relatively unchanged; by-passing or realignment of the original
transportation artery does not necessarily exclude a property if the bridge's immediate surroundings
retain its historic qualities. The bridge's original materials must not be obscured by alterations or
additions. The quality of the original workmanship must remain apparent, particularly from a technical
rather than aesthetic standpoint, with substantial evidence of the builder's labor and skill. The bridges
must retain a high degree of historic feeling, and their associations must be apparent to the informed or
casual observer.
$ Ibid.
9 Paradise of the Pacific, December 1922, 8.
Zo Thomas Thrum, Hawaiian Almanac and Annual(Honolulu: Hawaiian Gazette Company, 1914), 142.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
CONCRETE ARCH BRIDGES
Description
Concrete arches constructed in Hawaii are of two basic types: solid and open spandrels. The solid
spandrel type are generally arch deck bridges, in which the traffic decks sit upon the arch. These were
generally constructed in two periods in Hawaii:the early solid spandrel arch bridges date from c.1904 to
1915, and the later solid-spandrel arch bridges date from c.1916-1929. There are two types of open
spandrel arch bridge construction:the most common is the arch deck open-spandrel, first constructed
on Maui in 1911; the second type is the Rainbow or Marsh arch, a through-arch constructed during the
1920s and 1930s, in which the traffic deck is suspended from the bottom or lateral chord of the arch.
The first reinforced-concrete bridge in America was built in 1889, but the material remained in an
experimental phase until the early 1900s. Reinforced-concrete arch bridges were built in Hawaii after
1904, when the territorial government made it their policy to erect strong, low-maintenance bridges.
Concrete could be produced locally from crushed coral or stone aggregate and lime produced by burning
the coral reefs. Other materials like cement and reinforcing steel were imported.
South Hilo Road Supervisor Norman K. Lyman voiced public opposition to the Territorial DPW policy of
building concrete arch culverts. He was quoted in the Hilo Tribune as saying that he "would rather have
a stone bridge than a concrete culvert as the former would give employment to more voters, whereas
the cement and other materials required for concrete work was all imported from the [west] coast."11
The newspaper bolstered his argument by pointing out that "stone is plentiful near Hilo and just the
kind for bridges and culverts."'
This conservative policy was not adopted. In fact, the last known mention of stone arch culverts or
bridges is in a 1903 letter of Assistant Superintendent of Public Works, Merton Campbell, with regard to
the Mamalahoa-Pukihae Bridge in Hilo. While stone was cheap and locally available, construction of
stone arches was labor intensive and seemed to have died quickly with the advent of concrete. This
corresponds to developments in the U.S. mainland where concrete had largely replaced masonry by the
turn of the century. Further confirmation that concrete was the prevailing bridge material of the era is
apparent in the decision made by the Loan Fund Commission, set up in 1911 to oversee a special
construction fund established by the Legislature. The commission announced that"Steel was
unanimously discarded. Concrete will be used as far as funds permit, the absence of repairs offsetting
the large first cost, but it is possible that wood may be used on some spans over forty feet, if funds get
IOw,"13
11 Hilo Tribune, November 14, 1905, 2.
12 Ibid., 2.
13 Hilo Tribune,January 16, 1912, 2.
o¢ 25
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
,414
Tromso. Section
motion
FIGURE 12.CLOSED SPANDREL ARCH BRIDGE.
The various types of concrete arch bridges are described as follows:
Closed (Solid-Spandrel)Concrete Arch Bridges
Reinforced-concrete solid-spandrel arch bridges were constructed in two periods in Hawaii. The earliest
all-concrete bridges were built in 1904-1906 to standardized plans as a result of territorial policy,
although extant examples of solid-spandrel arches of this type date from as late as 1912 (Mamalahoa-
Pahoehoe Bridge on the Hawaii Belt Road). Since the first concrete arches echoed the design and form
of earlier masonry arch bridges, these utilize concrete, a new material, in a fairly conservative manner
from an engineering perspective. Nonetheless, reinforced concrete was a material requiring skilled
designers and builders.
These first reinforced-concrete arch bridges were constructed in lieu of masonry arches, generally in
residential areas over small or intermittent streams bisecting major transportation arteries. The arches
of these early bridges are circular and earth filled. The rise of the arch is typically eight feet and the span
approximately thirty-two feet. The parapets are of reinforced cast concrete, approximately four to six
inches thick and three feet high, with a peaked concrete rail cap. The bridges are quite narrow, usually
twelve or thirteen feet. Important examples of early concrete arch bridges include a series of concrete
arch bridges in Hilo and Pepeekeo, such as the Mamalahoa-Kapue Bridge with its fifty-six-foot span, and
the Mamalahoa-Puuokalepa Bridge.
Concrete, previously used for the arch ring of masonry bridges or the capping of parapets, was used for
bridge construction after the territorial government made construction of strong, low-maintenance
bridges its stated policy shortly after annexation. Previously bridges had been built of timber, stone, or
metal, but the new Superintendent of Public Works (SPW), C.S. Holloway, strongly recommended
concrete arches for small spans. His assistant,J.H. Howland, sent prints of several of these types of
bridges to Hawaii Road Engineer G.H. Gere to encourage the Hawaii Road Boards to adopt this type of
bridge:
I strongly recommend that concrete arches be built wherever the span is not too great and that
particular attention be paid to the foundations for the piers and abutments, so that whatever
work is undertaken, will be of a permanent nature and capable of standing heavy pressures due
to excessive flow of water during the rainy season...I would avoid as far as possible the
o¢ 26
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
construction of steel bridges, especially on the windward sides of the Islands and near the sea.
Bridges of wooden construction will last much longer and require less maintenance. Several of
the steel bridges are in exceedingly bad condition.l4
According to the 1905 report of the Assistant SPW, the foundations of all bridges and culverts, were to
be "constructed that they are good for all time."15 The report went on to state that:
Wherever practicable, bridges have...been built of concrete, and where the span was too great
so as to make the cost excessive, timber bridges (treated with creosote) have been designed
preferably to steel structures which we have found...to be the most expensive to maintain and
keep in repair."
Between 1904 and 1906, contracts were let for the construction of at least six concrete arches, including
those in Ewa and Waianae (both on Oahu), Mamalahoa-Puuokalepa and Mamalahoa-Waiaama, and the
Chong Drive-Waipahoehoe Avenue Bridge on the Saddle Road in Hilo on the island of Hawaii. Holloway
was correct in his assessment of their longevity, in that, all but one of these original concrete arches still
stands today. The construction of solid-spandrel concrete arches was the first step towards modern
transportation infrastructure; the development of open-spandrel arches pushed the engineering limits
of the new material and construction technology.
The second period of reinforced-concrete solid-spandrel arch construction occurred between 1916 and
1929, simultaneously with the development of the technologically innovative open-spandrel arch. Later
solid-spandrel arch bridges achieved greater spans and further refinement of detail and ornamentation,
particularly at parapets and end rails, than earlier examples. Art-deco styling and neo-classical detailing,
such as scrolled volutes, embossed diamond-shaped panels, resulted in the construction of the most
ornate bridges in the state. These later solid-spandrel arches were intended to be significant civic
statements reflecting Hawaii's aspirations for beautiful and urbane public works projects. The World's
Colombian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 served as the inspiration for the City Beautiful movement and
the ensuing neo-classical revival in the United States. The City Beautiful movement reached its height on
the U.S. mainland between 1900 and 1910 but affected Hawaii somewhat later. This movement is
characterized by an attempt to create beautiful and functional cities. Aesthetic principles such as
beauty, order, system, and harmony found physical realization in urban design.Architecture and public
works projects, such as road and sewer systems, became civic statements which strengthened the
identification of Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. The improved physical environment would persuade urban
dwellers, many of them recent immigrants to Hawaii from Asia, to become imbued with civic patriotism
and better disposed toward community needs.
14 Hilo Tribune, March 19, 1904, 4.
15 Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Works to the Governor of the Territory of Hawaii
for the Year Ending June 30, 1905, Hawaii (Territory), Department of Public Works (Honolulu: Honolulu
Publishing Co., Ltd., 1905), 72.
16 Ibid., 72.
o¢ 27
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
FIGURE 13.OPEN SPANDREL ARCH BRIDGE(PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF,A CONTEXT FOR COMMON HISTORIC BRIDGE
TYPES,3-68).
1111111 lb.
y1l + i
FIGURE 14. RAINBOW ARCH BRIDGE(DRAWING PROVIDED BY MKE ASSOCIATES LLC,2013).
Open-Spandrel Concrete Arch Bridges
These types of bridges were technologically innovative and are considered to be engineering
breakthroughs. Open-spandrel bridges do not contain fill material and deck loads are carried to the arch
ribs by spandrel columns. The first open-spandrel bridges were constructed along the Mamalahoa
Highway at Honolii on the Island of Hawaii and along the Hana Highway at Koukouai (Kaukauai) on Maui
in 1911. The open-spandrel bridge, with its technical innovations, was capable of spanning hundreds of
feet. Island engineers had multiplied their arch-spanning capacity by a factor of ten and refined the
casting of concrete to create slimmer, lighter looking structures. They retain their historic associations
and feeling due to their rural location, ornamental nature, and now uncommon structural type.
Rainbow Arch Bridges
This type of bridge, also known as "Marsh Arches" after their designer and patentee James B. Marsh, are
a sub-set of the open-spandrel arch type. This distinctive form of reinforced through-arch bridge
construction was also used extensively in portions of the mid-west from 1912 (the patent date)through
the early 1930s. Many Marsh arch bridges were constructed in Hawaii at important crossings over major
rivers in populated regions. However, only two examples remain: 1)A double-span arch with reinforced-
concrete top lateral bracing was constructed over the Anahulu Stream in Haleiwa on Oahu in 1921, and
2)A single-span, pony through-deck arch, was erected over the Wailuku River in Hilo on the island of
o¢ 28
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Hawaii in 1938. Marsh arches were capable of spanning several hundred feet, however the prohibitive
cost of large single spans resulted in the construction of several individual or multiple span arches.
Significance
The period of significance for reinforced-concrete arch bridges begins in 1904, when the first example
was constructed, and ends in 1938 when the last concrete arch bridge was constructed. Concrete arch
bridges are eligible under Criterion A if they contributed in a meaningful way to the settlement and
development of a geographically definable area, facilitated major passage to or through a region, or
have been significantly integral to the development of an effective transportation system. The
construction of reinforced-concrete bridges in place of timber and metal bridges is representative of the
commitment of the territorial and county governments to implement permanent public works
improvements. The construction of these bridges required the mobilization of skilled labor and
significant public funds. Many of these bridges were often extremely prominent, both in style and
location, and made a significant"civic statement" regarding the technical and aesthetic sophistication of
the communities in which they were built. In addition, some of these bridges have survived significant
historic preservation battles between the concerned citizenry and governmental transportation agencies
or private developers.
Reinforced-concrete arch bridges are eligible under Criterion C as the earliest examples of concrete
bridge construction in the state. They also represent a span of engineering innovation and a visual
timeline of construction technology. Concrete arch bridges often evidence a high degree of detailing and
workmanship and are examples of exceptional work by important local builders. The few remaining
examples are rare survivors of this once common bridge type. Reinforced-concrete arch bridges also
serve as examples of exceptional work by an important engineer, architect, or builder. Prominent
designers include William H. Chun, En Leong Wung, both of County of Hawaii Engineer's Office and
William R. Bartels, chief designer for the Territorial Highways Department. The builders of these
important early structures include Louis M. Whitehouse, Peter and Charles Arioli, Hisato Isemoto, and
Moses Akiona.
Eligibility Requirements
Since reinforced-concrete arch bridges were constructed as permanent structures, the bridge must
retain its integrity of location in order to be considered eligible. The design of the bridge, particularly the
arch sub-structure, the spandrel walls and parapets, must also retain its integrity; although alterations
early in the bridge's history(i.e., within the period of significance) and in such a way that the alterations
are reversible without diminishing the significant historic characteristics of the original bridge (by
widening or lengthening the bridge by the construction of an adjacent concrete culvert, for example) are
acceptable. The setting of the bridge must remain relatively unchanged; by-passing the original
transportation artery with a new highway does not necessarily exclude a property if the bridge's
immediate surroundings retain its historic qualities. The bridge's original materials must not be
adversely affected by alterations or additions. The quality of the original workmanship must remain
apparent, with substantial evidence of the artisan's labor and skill. The bridge must retain a high degree
of historic feeling, and its associations must be apparent to the informed or casual observer.
29 o
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
CONCRETE DECK BRIDGES
Description
Concrete construction technology rapidly advanced in the early decades of the twentieth century. Early
twentieth century bridges built with county funds often consisted of new simple concrete decks built
over the original nineteenth-century stone abutments. Slab bridges are known to have been used in
Hawaii since about 1908. However, concrete girders and tee beam types came to dominate Hawaii's
early twentieth-century bridge designs. As their strength and economy became apparent, concrete deck
girders replaced concrete arches and open-spandrel arches for short spans. Like their contemporary flat
slab bridges, early concrete girder bridges tend toward plain solid parapets and little or no
ornamentation. Simple girder bridges were constructed as late as 1935 for short spans on secondary
roads, since they did not have the load carrying capacity of the more recently developed concrete tee
beam bridges.
This common bridge type built after 1945 is the subject of the program comment discussed in Chapter 1
under Regulatory Background, Federal Law.
96,
Transverse S ecIion
FIGURE 15. FLAT CONCRETE SLAB BRIDGE.
Flat Slab
Simple reinforced-concrete slab bridges were an alternative to metal or timber stringer structures.
Concrete flat slab bridges were constructed in Hawaii from 1908, when the oldest remaining example
was built(Mokulehua Bridge on the Hana Highway), until approximately 1937, when moment-resisting
concrete rigid-frame bridges became common. Early flat slab bridges built with county funds often
consisted of new simple concrete decks built over the original nineteenth century stone abutments. The
slabs were cast on site, with formwork built by local carpenters. The plain appearance of this functional
design was augmented by a variety of railings, which ranged from solid parapets to open balustrades.
These bridges typically had spans of twelve to sixteen feet. However, the 1911 Waioli Bridge was
constructed with a maximum span of twenty-eight feet; a technological achievement that would not be
surpassed until the Keaiwa Stream Bridge (replaced in 2001), in Kau on the island of Hawaii, was built in
1937 with a span of thirty feet.
30 cIII: !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
t iQi i L __l ❑II
Transverse Section
FIGURE 16.CONCRETE GIRDER BRIDGE.
Concrete Girder
Another common early concrete bridge type utilized cast concrete girders in order to extend the length
of the spans. As their strength and economy became apparent, concrete deck girders replaced concrete
arches and open-spandrel arches for short spans. Many of these inexpensive bridges were built by the
county governments c. 1911-1912 and numerous examples of this bridge type remain along the Hana
Highway on Maui and the Mamalahoa Highway on the island of Hawaii. The most notable early concrete
girder bridge is the 200-foot-long Hanapepe Bridge built in 1911. Like their contemporary flat slab
bridges, early concrete girder bridges tend toward plain solid parapets and little or no ornamentation.
Simple girder bridges were constructed as late as 1935 for short spans on secondary roads, since they
did not have the load carrying capacity of the more recently developed concrete tee beam bridges.
T verse Senor!!
FIGURE 17.CONCRETE TEE BEAM BRIDGE.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Concrete Tee Beam
The concrete tee beam is the most common remaining type of pre-WWII bridges in the state of Hawaii.
Although, the majority of concrete tee beam bridges were built by the Territorial Highways Department
using local contractors after 1925, many early examples, dating from 1911-12, remain throughout the
islands. These bridges are virtually indistinguishable from concrete girder bridges in appearance,
differing only by the number of longitudinal beams and the pattern of steel reinforcing. Later tee beam
bridges achieved remarkable spans and are among the longest and highest bridges in the state. This
height and length was achieved by utilizing continuous tee beam sections. Continuity allowed for greater
spans and the elimination of expansion joints in the deck. They typically feature one of the several
standard rail patterns used by the Territorial Highway Department, either"Greek-cross," arched, or
simple rectangular voids and a reinforced-concrete rail cap.
FIGURE 18.CONCRETE RIGID FRAME BRIDGE.
Concrete Rigid Frame
The most sophisticated of the pre-WWII bridges, from an engineering perspective, are those utilizing
rigid-frame technologies. Concrete frame bridges are characterized by the construction of abutments
and deck as one solid piece of concrete. This milestone design eliminated the need for steel bearings
between deck and abutments and was more economical than plain slab construction. It also enabled the
slab bridge to double or triple its previous span of 20 feet. Rigid-frame construction was a very
economical and swift method for building bridges where costs had to be minimized. The earliest rigid-
frame bridges were built in the United States between 1922 and 1930. However, this technology was
not used in Hawaii until 1936, when William Bartels of the Territorial Highway Department developed
the plans for the Wahiawa Bridge on Kauai and the Kaahumanu-Naniloa Overpass in Wailuku, Maui.
These were followed the next year by the construction of two concrete rigid-frame bridges in the Kau
District on the island of Hawaii and another on Oahu. Rigid-frame bridges are generally single-span
structures and utilize the standard rail patterns of the Territorial Highways Department.
Significance
The period of significance for reinforced-concrete deck bridges begins in 1908, when the first example
was constructed, and ends in 1977, the cut-off date for the survey. Concrete deck bridges are eligible
under Criterion A if they contributed in a meaningful way to the settlement and development of a
geographically definable area, facilitated major passage to or through a region, or been significantly
integral to the development of an effective transportation system. Concrete deck bridges are
representative of important public works projects initiated by the territorial and county governments.
They were generally constructed at important crossings along a major transportation route or belt road.
o¢ 32
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Many of the later concrete deck bridges were constructed with federal work relief programs funds
during the Depression era. The early flat slab and girder bridges are an excellent example of the early
period of twentieth-century bridge design when new materials and design methods were being tried.
Concrete flat slab and girder bridges are early examples of the progressive Territorial Highway System in
Hawaii and among the first use of formal engineering expertise in bridge making by the new territorial
government, shortly after the annexation of Hawaii by the United States. The road bridges played a
major role in the development of each county's belt road plan by connecting previously isolated
communities with a paved highway.
Reinforced-concrete deck bridges are eligible under Criterion C if they are the earliest, sole surviving,
longest span, or most intact example of their type, or if they exhibit notable engineering or decorative
details. They may also serve as examples of exceptional work by an important engineer, architect, or
builder. Later concrete bridges, such as tee beams and rigid frames, demonstrate the rapid advances in
engineering technology in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Prominent designers include Joseph H. Moragne of the Kauai DPW, who oversaw the construction of the
early slab and girder bridges built in the Hanalei area of Kauai in 1911-12; and William Bartels, chief
designer for the Territorial Highway Department(THD), who was responsible for the design of many
later concrete bridges, such as tee beam and rigid-frames. Important builders include George Ewhart,
George Freitas, George Mahikona, and the Hawaiian Contracting Company. See information on these
designers in Appendix B.
Eligibility Requirements
Since reinforced-concrete deck bridges were constructed as permanent structures, the bridge must
retain its integrity of location. The design of the bridge, particularly the sub-structure, the spandrel walls
and parapets, must also retain its integrity. Alterations may be considered acceptable if they were
completed early in the bridge's history(i.e. within the period of significance) and in such a way that they
are reversible without diminishing the significant historic characteristics of the original bridge. The
setting of the bridge must remain relatively unchanged; by-passing the original transportation artery
with a new highway does not necessarily exclude a property if the bridge's immediate surroundings
retain its historic qualities. The bridge's original materials must not be adversely affected by alterations
or additions. The quality of the original workmanship must remain apparent, particularly from a
technical rather than aesthetic perspective, with substantial evidence of a builder's labor and skill. The
bridges must retain a high degree of historic feeling, and their associations must be apparent to the
informed or casual observer.
TIMBER STRINGER BRIDGES
e _.., _ __ m ._. �� _. . ww 1111; .71 1,1F
owl __ _ _ �.��. .
FIGURE 19.TIMBER STRINGER BRIDGE.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Description
Simple timber stringer spans constitute the only extant wood bridge type in Hawaii. Timber had been
used for bridge construction since 1840 when the first bridges were built in the islands. Timber bridges
were susceptible to washouts and decay, thus the earliest surviving bridge dates from 1924. The
remaining examples of wood bridges are constructed of timber girders, often with masonry(basalt) pier
footings and abutments, wood cribbing or trestles, and open horizontal wood board railings. Stringer
spans usually measure twenty-five feet or less. Larger timber stringer bridges are generally located in
the dryer areas over deep gulches and date from the immediate pre-and post-WWII period (c. 1937 to
1947). The failure of the Territorial Legislature to match federal funds led to a significant reduction in
funds available for bridge construction by the end of the decade. Consequently, less expensive wood
bridges were built. The older, smaller wood bridges were generally constructed on secondary roads.
Very few of these timber bridges remain in the islands as a result of a deliberate policy by the THD and
county DPWs to replace timber bridges with permanent, low-maintenance concrete structures.
Significance
The period of significance for timber stringer bridges begins in 1924, when the first remaining example
was constructed, and ends in 1949, when the last timber bridge was constructed. Timber bridges are
eligible under Criterion A if they have contributed in a meaningful way to the settlement and
development of a geographically definable area, facilitated major passage to or through a region, or
were significantly integral to the development of an effective transportation system. Timber stringer
bridges are representative of public works efforts by the territorial and county governments for
transportation infrastructure primarily located in rural homestead areas.
The majority of Hawaii's timber was (and still is)fir or pine imported from the Pacific Northwest,
although early records show a preference for rare local tropical hardwoods. During the early twentieth-
century, older timber bridges were periodically replaced with simple concrete spans in efforts to
upgrade the highways. The relative impermanence of timber, compared to other bridge types,
diminished the desirability of timber bridges. However, timber was frequently used for small bridges on
little-traveled roads because this material was less expensive in the short run. Budget constraints
impacted bridge construction beginning in 1937, when the Territory no longer matched incoming federal
funds. Bridges built around this period were often of inexpensive timber with fairly short spans. Further,
concrete and steel were in short supply due to the military construction boom as World War II
approached. During this time, locally abundant masonry("lava-rock"), which was not previously used on
Federal Aid bridges, made an appearance in footings and abutments. Today, the governmental
transportation agencies no longer construct timber bridges and, in fact, are reluctant to maintain
existing ones. Consequently, the few remaining timber stringer bridges stand as rare survivors of this
once common bridge type. Because these bridges have few character defining features, those timber
bridges that feature superstructures re-constructed with concrete or steel girders at a later date do not
meet integrity criteria.
Eligibility Requirements
Timber bridges must retain their integrity of location. The design of the bridge, particularly the wood
sub-structure, must also retain its integrity. Alterations within the period of significance that do not
diminish the significant historic characteristics of the original bridge (such as material replaced in-kind)
o¢ 34
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
are acceptable. The setting of the bridge must remain relatively unchanged. By-passing the original
transportation artery with a new highway may not necessarily exclude a property if the bridge's
immediate surroundings still retain their historic qualities. The bridge's original materials must not be
adversely affected by alterations or additions. The quality of the original workmanship must remain
apparent, particularly from a technical rather than aesthetic perspective. The bridges must retain a high
degree of historic feeling and their historic associations must be apparent to the informed or casual
observer.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
BRIDGE PARAPET/RAILING TYPES
SOLID PARAPET DESIGN
•
Concrete Solid
:44.
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Farrington Highway, Hunehune Stream Bridge(1941)
County of Honolulu: 003924001100001
Concrete Solid with Cap
Hanapepe Bridge (1911)
County of Kauai:007190071119004
3 6 cIII !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
, if
Concrete Solid Panel
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Hanamaulu Stream (Maalo Road) Bridge(1927)
Kauai State: 007005830500004
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Waikomo Stream (Koloa Road Bridge) (1928)
County of Kauai: 007270100828001
p � 37
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
4r
Concrete Solid Decorative ._
Ala Wai Canal
County of Honolulu:003083181400074
Masonry Rock
r„: •fir
p t ad
Kawa Stream Bridge (1939)
Oahu State:003063001400065
38 cIII !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
•
14
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did
m,
Masonry Rock with Cap ; -y
Nuuanu Stream Bridge
County of Honolulu:003083471400113
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39
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
OPEN PARAPET DESIGN
A •M1
Concrete Open Horizontal ,- 14*
a q
Mana Bridge No. 1 (1900)
County of Kauai:007120061112002
Concrete Open Vertical 4W.
j j .J J i i ,, .• 1 }�1�1Pflrlo aim° ,1ra
Kapalaau Stream Bridge(1940)
Oahu State:003009300501414
40 cIII: !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
•
ILI
Concrete Open Arched
p y f
Waihohonu Stream Bridge(1934)
Kauai State: 007000500302613
. _
,
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Concrete Open Greek Cross
Waimea River(1940)
Kauai State:007000500301039
p � 41
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
. f
, .,t .:
Concrete Open Decorative _ r
,/ :� qV-l�py"yY�¢�{ �},g",#a,{)[�roF f"'D�"S ,.,f c,'N
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Gulch (Kailua)Structure No. 50(Sam Kalama) (1930)
County of Maui: 009003650700070
cIII !
42
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
err , m
Concrete and Metal Picket ":0114
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Palolo Stream Bridge
County of Honolulu:003083531400155
Concrete and Metal Decorative 1
Kapalama Canal (1938)
County of Honolulu:003062081400134
43 cIII: !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
r-.
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Oahu State: 003000630000234
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Oahu State: 003098001400116
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44
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Metal Thrie Beam '
Anakaluahine Stream Bridge No.69(1924)
Maui State: 009000300303899
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Metal Decorative
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County of Honolulu: 003427001100001
45 cIII: !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
y - -.. .•r'"
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
3.0: HISTORIC CONTEXTS17
3.1: DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES AND ROADS IN THE HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS, PRE-CONTACT TO THE 1960S
OVERVIEW
The Hawaiian Archipelago is a chain of rugged islands, coral reefs, and rocky shoals located in the North
Pacific Ocean. The archipelago consists of approximately twenty islands and islets curving more than
1,600 miles southeast to northwest. The archipelago extends over a vast area of the Pacific Ocean but
has limited land area. This chain is crossed by the Tropic of Cancer and is located 2,100 nautical miles
west of the mainland of the United States. The islands of Hawaii are the worn tops of volcanoes which
first erupted from the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago. The land mass that makes up the
Hawaiian Islands is comprised almost entirely of basaltic rock. Stream erosion, resulting from the island's
copious rainfall, and the constant action of the sea have carved large amphitheater-headed valleys and
great sea cliffs, called pall, thousands of feet high in some places. This mountainous terrain drops
steeply to a plain which slopes gradually to the shore. The steep mountains, deep valleys and circuitous
coastline of the islands, have resulted in the completion of many dramatic bridge construction projects.
The State of Hawaii is composed of eight principal islands; only the four largest(Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and
Kauai) have the geography and population necessary for significant bridge construction. Due to the
intensive development experienced in the Hawaiian Islands in the post-war period, few stretches of
roadway retain a significant concentration of earlier historic bridges;the Hana Highway on Maui, Kuhio
Highway on the north shore of Kauai and the Old Mamalahoa Highway on the Island of Hawaii with their
numerous spans remain exceptions. The Pali Highway on Oahu has a significant concentration of historic
bridges from the 1950s to 1969.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Hawaii's socio-political history may be divided into five general time periods:
1. Polynesian (Pre-Western Contact, 500 CE to 1778)
2. European Discovery(1778-1810)
3. Hawaiian Monarchy(King Kamehameha Ito Queen Liliuokalani, 1810-1893)
4. Provisional Government, Republic of Hawaii, Territorial Status (1893-1959)
5. Statehood (1959-Present)
Initially, road and bridge-building in Hawaii developed in conjunction with the westernization of the
islands in the early nineteenth century. Examination of the archival materials and government
documents of the Hawaiian Kingdom reveals very limited information. Considering the dramatic social
and political upheavals of Hawaiian history, it is not surprising that few early records about bridge
building were retained.After the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, the Independent
Republic of Hawaii looked to the United States for annexation and Hawaii became an American territory
in 1898. Several bridges remain from this transitional period, including masonry arches built by the
Republic of Hawaii—such as the Mamalahoa-Kalalau, Mamalahoa-Kaumoalii, and Mamalahoa-
17 Sections 3.0-3.7 have been carried over from the 2013 SHBIE. When necessary, edits have been made
to the text and corrections have been made to the footnotes.
o¢ 47
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Laupahoehoe Bridges on the Island of Hawaii. The majority of the remaining historic bridges in Hawaii
were constructed by the county and Territorial governments. Hawaii achieved Statehood in 1959,
resulting in a shift in policy and procedure for highway and bridge construction throughout the state.
BRIDGE AND ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE KINGDOM OF HAWAII TO 1893
NATIVE ROADS (PRIOR TO 1810)
Traditionally, the Hawaiians had highly developed canoe-making and paddling skills, and the preferred
means of travel was by water. Although there are few direct accounts by early Hawaiian informants
discussing pre-contact trails or roads, physical evidence of a rudimentary native trail system remains. In
addition to native footpaths constructed parallel to the coastline, there were less traveled routes to the
uplands within each ahupuaa (a pie-shaped native land division stretching from the mountains to the
sea) and shortcuts over the mountains. Occasionally, more substantial roads were built by Hawaiian
chiefs for warfare and as a symbol of their unifying power, including the "King's Highway" near Makapuu
Point on Oahu and Maui's Kiha-a-Piilani "Highway" which ran all the way from Wailuku to Hana, a
distance of approximately sixty miles. The latter was laboriously constructed of hand-fitted, adze-
trimmed basalt blocks about two feet on a side, and laid in a mosaic to form paths four to six feet wide.
There is no remaining evidence of ancient Hawaiian bridge construction, although carved steps which
may date from pre-contact Hawaii are found on several valley walls, such as those adjacent to the
Koukouai Gulch Bridge in Kipahulu, Maui.
KINGDOM OF HAWAII (1810-1893)
Prior to 1846, the islands lacked a comprehensive system of interior roads or paths which made
overland travel difficult and necessitated travel by sea. The Reverend Titus Coan, an early missionary,
wrote "for many years after our arrival [in 1835] there were no roads, no bridges, and no horses...and all
my tours were made on foot."18 A typical highway was "a simple trail, winding in a serpentine line,going
down and up precipices, some of which could only be descended and ascended by grasping the shrubs
and grasses."19 Reverend Coan went on to enumerate the several ways he used to ford the streams and
rivers;these included wading,jumping from rock to rock with the help of a stick, riding the shoulders of
a strong Hawaiian, throwing a rope to the other side, and holding on to the shoulders of a chain of
Hawaiian men stretched across the water.
The introduction of horses to the islands in 1803 aided land transportation. By the mid-nineteenth
century, the increasing use of horses and wagons necessitated a better system of interior roads. In 1846,
the Kingdom of Hawaii established the Department of the Interior with a Superintendent of Internal
Improvements (later Public Works)to oversee the construction and maintenance of piers, harbors,
government buildings, roads, and bridges. The expenditures of the Bureau of Internal Improvements or
of the Department of the Interior as a whole were, with only a few exceptions, the largest item in the
Kingdom's budget. The governors of the various islands were charged with carrying out the king's wishes
by using prisoners or those liable for the labor tax. This tax required all able-bodied male Hawaiians who
18 Titus Coan, Life in Hawaii:An Autobiographic Sketch of Mission Life and Labors(1835-1881), rev. 2nd
ed. (1882; reprint Mesa, Arizona: Scriptoria Books, 2013), 21.
19 Ibid., 21.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
were "'vassals or tenants of a landlord or without an art or profession' to work on any of the king's road
or bridge projects on certain designated days or to pay a commutation fee of 12 %cents per
day."20 However, the Kingdom's road building, according to noted historian Kuykendall, consisted of
little more than clearing a right of way, doing a little rough grading and putting up wooden bridges
which were routinely washed away during heavy rains. Most of the Kingdom's scarce funds were
absorbed by the repair and maintenance of existing roads.
Historian Ralph Kuykendall faulted the government for"the lack of general understanding of the
importance of good roads, the lack of over-all planning and co-ordination between different districts,
the lack of engineering skill and competent supervision, and the lack of funds with which to finance a
thorough-going road program."21 These conditions prevailed until the last decades of the nineteenth
century. As late as 1886, Minister of the Interior Charles Gulick had to admit:
A country like ours, for the most part mountainous and cut by deep gorges, which in the wet
season are filled with impossible torrents, and widely separated districts with sparse population,
present at a glance the most prominent difficulties in the way of substantial road making in this
Kingdom. In other words, to speak comparatively, we have a hundred dollars' worth of work to
be done and, say, ten dollars to do it with. This general condition has not materially changed
since them first public highway was built in the Kingdom.22
In 1887, King David Kalakaua transferred much of the Kingdom's responsibility for internal
improvements to local road boards financed by a road tax. These boards were semi-autonomous and
charged with the construction of public highways in their taxation districts. Generally, road construction
was undertaken by prisoners and day laborers. The public works system of the Hawaiian Kingdom
remained undisturbed by the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893, and no major changes were noted
until the time of annexation by the United States in 1898.
THE FIRST BRIDGES (1840-1893)
The first reference to bridge construction, over the Nuuanu Stream along the present Beretania Street in
urban Honolulu, appears in 1840. In an article describing "Improvements and Changes in and About
Honolulu," The Polynesian reported:
Then we leave Rev. L. Smith's new church [Kaumakapili Church, then located on Beretania Street
between Maunakea Street and Nuuanu Avenue]...with a causeway, crossing the river and low
ground in the vicinity. [The bridge's] expense exceeded $1200, and it has proved of great utility,
20 Patricia M. Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation:Island of Hawaii, Prepared for the State
of Hawaii Department of Transportation Highways Division, In Cooperation with the U.S. Department of
Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (July 1987), 8.
21 Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, Vol. II, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years(Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1953), 26.
22 Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister of the Interior, Biennial Report of the Minister of the Interior to the
Legislative Assembly of 1886, 16, quoted in Dawn E. Duensing, Hawa'i's Scenic Roads:Paving the Way
for Tourism in the Islands(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015), 1.
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°9e+^etc
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
being a great thoroughfare...instead of the long ride through the water as was formerly the
case.23
Other bridge construction projects followed quickly, although none of these early bridges remain today.
In 1845, the first published annual report of the Minister of the Interior noted that"some improvements
have been made on the bridges and roads of [Oahu] and other islands."24 Patricia M. Alvarez, author of
the Big Island's 1987 historic bridge survey observed, "[t]imber and stone were the prevailing bridge
construction materials at this time. Stone was abundant in Hawaii, and among the first bridges built by
the Interior Department were stone bridges at Nuuanu and Waikiki. But construction of stone bridges
required skilled labor to build", which was scarce in the islands. "Wood was the cheapest material, and
many types were available."25 R.A.S. Wood, Superintendent of Internal Improvements during the mid-
1850s, reported to the Minister of the Interior his evaluations of different types:
The bridges heretofore built by the government prove beyond all doubt the unworthiness of
Oregon pine or fir timber for this purpose. All, with scarcely an exception, are in such a state of
decay as to require rebuilding. Our own ohia [a native hardwood], for bridge or wharf purposes,
is infinitely superior to Oregon pine. Though somewhat more expensive at the first outlay its
durability will warrant using it.26
These pioneering bridges were unfortunately vulnerable to floods. On April 1, 1847, heavy rainstorms
struck Kauai and "all the bridges on the island were carried away."27 Within the week Oahu suffered the
same fate. In 1858, the Oahu Road Supervisor reported that nine bridges were destroyed in his district
by a freshet. Twenty years later, the Report of the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative Assembly
noted that"the bridges of Hawaii and Kauai were swept away last year."28 The 1882 Department of the
Interior Report carried the lament that "in some districts, owing to the exceptionally wet season,
causing heavy freshets in the streams, a good many bridges have been carried away."29
In an attempt to provide low-cost, permanent replacements for timber bridges, ten steel Pratt-truss
bridges, manufactured by the Pacific Bridge Company in Portland, were ordered by the Kingdom for the
Island of Hawaii as early as 1884. For shorter spans, concrete slabs were the preferred solution, but at
23 "Improvements and Changes in and About Honolulu," The Polynesian, October 17, 1840, 74, quoted in
Robert C. Schmitt, "Early Hawaiian Bridges," The Hawaiian Journal of History 20(1986): 152.
24 Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister of the Interior, Biennial Report of the Minister of the Interior to the
Legislative Assembly of 1845, 10.
25 Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 13; Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister of the Interior, Biennial
Report of the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative Assembly of 1848, 5; Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister
of the Interior, Biennial Report of the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative Assembly of 1846, 6
[Cleaned up from Alvarez citations].
26 Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 13-14; Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister of the Interior. Biennial
Report of the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative Assembly Report of the Minister of the Interior to
the Legislative Assembly of 1855, 9.
27 The Polynesian (Honolulu), April 10, 1847, 191.
28 Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister of Finance, Report of the Minister of Finance to the Legislature of 1878,
10.
29 Kingdom of Hawaii, Minister of the Interior, Report of the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative
Assembly of 1882, 49.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
this date, concrete bridges that could achieve longer spans were beyond the available engineering and
construction technology. Nonetheless, maintaining steel bridges proved too costly in Hawaii's corrosive
marine environment and they were soon rejected for government roads. None remain from this early
steel period.
BRIDGE AND ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE REPUBLIC OF HAWAII AND THE TERRITORIAL ERA: 1894-
1941
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION DURING THE REPUBLIC OF HAWAII (1893-1898)
During the period of the Kingdom, road and bridge construction was undertaken by day laborers and
prisoners. However, in 1896-97, contracts were let for a belt road on the Island of Hawaii, the first time
such a system was used extensively, resulting in the construction of hundreds of miles of roads on that
island. The masonry(cut basalt or lava rock) arch spans constructed along the Hamakua coast of the
island of Hawaii under these contracts are the oldest remaining bridges in the islands. Other significant
nineteenth-century bridges include the Opaekaa Stream Bridge which was built from portions of one
span of a three-span bridge manufactured in Scotland in 1890 and erected over the mouth of Kauai's
Wailua River in 1896. This bridge is significant as the only known British-made iron bridge in the United
States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 1983.
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION DURING THE EARLY TERRITORIAL PERIOD (1898-1924)
The Hawaiian Islands were annexed by the United States in 1898. The Organic Act of 1900 abolished the
Department of the Interior and replaced it with the territorial Department of Public Works (DPW)
headed by a Superintendent of Public Works (SPW), which had responsibility for expending territorial
funds on road and bridge work. Five years later, the Territorial Legislature established the county
governments on the separate islands, granting them taxing and spending powers in their jurisdictions.
After the counties were granted independent taxing powers, they still relied on legislative
appropriations to supplement county funds for internal improvements, thus the history of county
roadbuilding was closely tied to Territorial and Federal government largesse. Consequently, throughout
much of the early twentieth century, the counties' road and bridge-building could not keep up with the
islands' economic development and infrastructure needs. In some cases, government funds were so
scarce that public roads were maintained by private business so as not to impede their productivity. For
example, the belt road on the windward coast of Maui was maintained by the East Maui Irrigation
Company and the roads in Haiku, Maui were maintained by the Haiku Fruit and Packing Company.
Increased automobile traffic and damage from heavy rains increased the maintenance cost of these
roads and in the 1920s, private planters demanded that the county administration shoulder the burden
of the road upkeep.
In response to a chronic shortage of funds for road construction, the 1911 Legislature recommended the
issuance of territorial bonds for belt road construction. A Loan Commission, consisting of the SPW, the
county Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and three county residents, was appointed to oversee the
fund expenditures. In the 1920s and 1930s, bridge building continued to be financed through the loan
fund and legislative appropriation. Prior to the initiation of the Federal Aid Program in 1925, bridges
along the belt roads were generally designed by the county engineers using Territorial Loan Funds. Each
county had its own bridge design department located within the County Engineer's Office. Many of the
bridge engineers were technologically skilled and evidenced high aesthetic sensitivity.J. H. Moragne, on
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
the Island of Kauai, was responsible for the most technologically innovative work of his time. En Leong
Wung and William Hoy Chun of the County of Hawaii designed scores of technologically simple, yet
aesthetically sophisticated, bridges along the Hamakua Coast of that island. These bridges were
generally short span reinforced-concrete arch, deck girder or flat slab structures.
As horses and carriages gave way to automobiles, trucks, and buses, wider and more durable roads were
needed to service these vehicles. Originally, bridges were just wide enough to let one horse and buggy
cross at a time and no sidewalks were provided for pedestrians, even in urban areas. A Hilo newspaper
writer pointed out that"strictly speaking, a pedestrian has no rights which any one is bound to
respect."30 Bridges on plantation roads were often as narrow as eight or nine feet, those on public roads
averaged fourteen or sixteen feet in the first decade of the century. The Loan Fund Commission
established eighteen feet as its required road width in 1911, although sixteen feet was commonly used
in rural areas. These specifications prevailed until the 1920s when they were expanded to twenty feet.
Sidewalks were generally not added until the 1930s, first on one side, then on both sides by the end of
the decade.
Bridge railings are another indication of a bridge's period of construction. The earliest bridge railings
were rubble masonry(lava rock) constructions, such as those at the Mamalahoa-Kalalau Bridge built on
Hawaii Island in 1899. These were followed by simple concrete railings, or parapets, which were
generally less than three feet high and capped on top. Examples of these earliest parapets include the
Mamalahoa-Puuokalepa Bridge on Hawaii Island and the Waioli Bridge on Kauai. Decorative rectangular
inset panels were added to concrete parapets by 1919, such as those of the Waikamoi and Haipuaena
Bridges on Maui. In the 1920s, railings became post and beam constructs, usually with a rectangular
configuration, such as those found on many of the county-built bridges along the Hana Highway.
Occasionally, the railings rose to an artistic level with Italianate posts, such as the Ainako Stream-
Waianuenue Avenue Bridge in Hilo. Block-like end piers were added in the 1930s, smaller versions of the
decorative pylons which appear on the continental United States bridges of this period. These were
typically found on Federal Aid bridges constructed by the Territory of Hawaii. Art Deco motifs and
streamlined design, like those found on the Date Street Bridge in Honolulu, were also common to 1930s-
era bridges.
From 1900 to 1940, the Hawaiian Islands witnessed rapid economic and population growth. During this
time, the population of the islands more than doubled, primarily due to the importation of laborers for
the sugar and pineapple plantations, which meant increasing demand for housing, schools, utilities, and
physical infrastructure. Only the remote rural areas traditionally isolated by a lack of good roads, such as
the Hana district on Maui, Waipio Valley on the Island of Hawaii or Kalalau on Kauai, witnessed a decline
in population during this period. The construction of the Panama Canal in 1914 coincided with changing
social conditions in Hawaii. Honolulu was eager for the expected economic growth through shipping,
trade, and tourism. These prospects mobilized community leaders to increase promotion for Hawaii,
improve transportation, and further identification between Hawaiian communities and American cities.
The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 served as the inspiration for the City Beautiful
movement and the ensuing neo-classical revival in the United States. The City Beautiful movement
reached its height on the U.S. mainland between 1900-1910 but affected Hawaii somewhat later. This
movement is characterized by an attempt to create beautiful and functional cities. Aesthetic principles
3°Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 63.
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such as beauty, order, system, and harmony found physical realization in urban design. Architecture and
public works projects, such as road and sewer systems, became civic statements which strengthened the
identification of Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. The improved physical environment would persuade urban
dwellers, many of them recent immigrants to Hawaii from Asia, to become imbued with civic patriotism
and better disposed toward community needs.31
During this period, Hawaii was on the receiving end of mainland technology and the history of its bridge
development parallels that of the United States mainland, albeit with some delay. As on the mainland,
there was an evolution of bridge types constructed due to changing economic factors and technology.
Records for length and sophistication of design were continuously changing; accolades such as "the
longest" and "the first" were used repeatedly over the decades to describe the latest achievements.
Although Hawaii lagged behind the mainland United States in technological development, it still had its
share of landmark bridges.3z
The bridges constructed with Territorial Loan Funds are among the early examples of the progressive
Territorial Highway system in Hawaii. These bridges are also an example of one of the first uses of
formal engineering expertise in bridge making by the new territorial government after the annexation of
Hawaii by the United States. The bridges played a major role in the development of each county's belt
road plan which connected previously isolated communities with a paved highway and a series of steel-
reinforced concrete, timber, or steel bridges. The construction of improved modern vehicular roads,
especially the up-to-date replacement of older, weak timber bridges by steel truss and reinforced
concrete spans, remedied unsatisfactory road and transportation conditions, improved communications,
and helped stimulate the economic and social growth of the then relatively isolated communities. The
new roads and bridges shortened distances connecting each island's villages, farms and plantations.
Supplies, services, and scenic and recreational areas were reached more easily, and the improved
transportation stimulated new competition with shipping at each coastal town's pier and landing.
Homesteading, another important movement in Hawaiian history, was also intended to create smaller
communities in Hawaii.33 After the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, the new provisional
government leased out vast tracks of prime government land to sugar plantations. When these thirty-
year leases expired in the 1920s, the territorial government made this land available for homesteaders.
The counties began to develop new lands for homesteading by installing the needed infrastructure, such
as roads and utilities. Construction of roads and bridges was limited by the small and intermittent
funding mechanism of assessing homesteaders as they bought the lots. The SPW remained responsible
for homestead roads and bridges until 1917 when the responsibility for homestead roads was
transferred to the Territorial Commissioner of Public Lands (CPL). In actuality, the County Engineer's
Offices remained responsible for the construction of most of the roads and bridges until 1925, because
the CPL was "not provided with an engineering force necessary for the direct handling of this work."34
31 William H. Wilson, The City Beautiful Movement(Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press,
1989), 1
32 Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 1.
33 Spencer Mason Architects, Historic Bridge Inventory:Island of Kauai, prepared for the State of Hawaii,
Department of Transportation, Highways Division in cooperation with the U.S. Department of
Transportation, Federal Highways Administration (October 1989), 249.
34 Ibid., 4.
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BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION AND THE FEDERAL AID PROGRAM (1925-1941)
The Federal Aid System in Hawaii consists of three types:
1. The Interstate and Defense Highways;
2. The Federal Aid Primary System; and
3. The Federal Aid Secondary System.
Beginning in 1916, in anticipation of its entry into World War I, the United States Congress appropriated
funds to assist States in developing their transportation networks. Federal Aid funded roads were
intended to upgrade existing highways by providing good drainage, clearly marked lanes, improved
alignment, grades that could be negotiated in high gear, wide shoulders, safe and wide bridges, and safe
bridge approaches. Belt roads, which circled the island, or roads that linked a seaport to federal
property(such as military bases or national parks) were usually selected for Federal Aid in Hawaii.
Maintenance of federal roads was to be done by the States from their own funds. Because it was not yet
a state, Hawaii was initially excluded from the Federal Aid system although its citizens paid federal taxes.
The Hawaiian Legislature passed a Bill of Rights in 1923, demanding equal benefits with the nation's
States;this bill was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge in March 1924.
Hawaii received its first federal funds in 1925 and created the Territorial Highway Department(THD)to
oversee the expenditure of the funds as required by the Federal Road Aid Act. Designs for new bridges
on designated Federal Aid primary roads were hereafter prepared by this department. Also in 1925,
Congress voted to give Hawaii the federal highway funds it had missed since 1917. In the mid-1930s,
yearly federal contributions rose to the million-dollar mark with the passage of the New Deal road aid
measures such as the National Industrial Recovery Act,the Emergency Relief appropriations Act and aid
for secondary road systems. By 1940, approximately sixty-five percent of Hawaii's roads had been built
with federal funds.
Bridges were a special concern of the federal highway system, and the THD began a systematic
replacement of narrow and hazardous bridges. With ample funds, the THD began to straighten out the
belt roads and build long, high bridges across the mouths of the valleys. The federal government started
funding secondary or feeder roads in the late 1930s. These were required to be outside of municipalities
and be farm-to-market roads or other rural roads of community value which connect with important
highways or the Federal Aid primary system. Bridges constructed with Federal Aid dollars have longer
spans and were more decorative than county financed bridges. Reinforced-concrete tee beam bridges
dominate this period, although a few rare examples of open-spandrel concrete arches remain. Rail
design was standardized into a few patterns, such as the "Greek-cross void," enabling easy recognition
of THD bridges. Notable examples include the Hanapepe Highway Bridge on Kauai and the Kipapa
Franklin Delano Roosevelt(FDR) Bridge on Oahu.
BRIDGE AND ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN HAWAII: 1941-1977
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION DURING WORLD WAR II, POST-WORLD WAR II,AND THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
HIGHWAY SYSTEM (1941-1960S)
After the outbreak of World War II in December 1941, the military constructed many miles of roads in
Hawaii. However, as a Territory of the United States, Hawaii was not entitled to the same level of federal
funding given to other continental States for highway building projects, based on the 1944 Interstate
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Highway System Act. In 1941, the War Department designated all Oahu's principal highways as part of a
"strategic network of highways."The term "strategic network of highways" implicates principal highway
traffic routes were of military importance in the Territory of Hawaii. Civilian construction virtually halted
as manpower and equipment was requisitioned by the military. The military establishment quickly
became the largest employer of civilian workers in the Territory. Highway and bridge construction was
restricted to only those projects which materially aided the National Defense System.
Hawaiian delegates used the Department of Defense's designation as "strategic"to argue that Hawaii's
military bases and highway networks were key to National defense. In the early 1950s, the Korean War
increased National Defense activity in Hawaii due to rising tensions in the Pacific area. This need, as well
as the increased use of motor vehicles and the islands' tourism industry collectively increased pressure
to meet growing transportation needs. In 1953, Territorial Highway Engineer Ben E. Nutter provided a
"Progress Report on Highways"to the Legislature that detailed highway deficiencies in excess of 50
million dollars—or more than ten times the annual construction budget. The report indicated that the
1954 Hawaii Federal Aid Highway System was still about 10 years behind in providing modern highways
of adequate design and capacity. In the postwar era a sophisticated survey of the island's roads was
completed by the THD. This survey rated roads and bridges on a mathematical "sufficiency rating
system."35 Fewer than half of the Federal Aid system's roads got a passing grade.
In 1959 Hawaii was admitted as the fiftieth state of the United States. The "Hawaii Statehood Transition
Bill" of 1959 made millions of federal dollars available for highway improvement and development. The
HDOT was established in January 1960. At that time, there were about 633.93 miles of roads to build to
fill the gaps in the Federal Aid Highway System. Later, in July 1960, the Interstate Highway System was
extended to the State of Hawaii, which allowed the new Federal Interstate Highway fund to be applied
to Hawaii's highway and bridge constructions. With Hawaii's significant role in the National Defense
system, the Interstate Highway fund was intended to serve both military needs and civilian interstate
traffic needs. Hawaii continued to benefit from regular federal aid, such as the Highway Beautification
Act of 1965 and aid for secondary roads.
The construction of roads and bridges in Hawaii can be directly linked to the needs of the National
Defense system and the military establishment. With adequate federal funds in the post-war era,
bridges were usually built as part of large public projects, such as for the construction of new Nimitz
Highway and H-1 in East Oahu and in Honolulu, Trans-Koolau Range projects linking Honolulu with
windward Oahu with the Pali and Likelike Highways, and the Seismic Wave Damage Rehabilitation
Project on the Big Island that converted portions of the abandoned Hilo Railroad to the Hawaii Belt
Road. These projects played an important role, tying together military bases and civilian residential
districts settled all over the islands. Bridges of this period can be easily recognized by the distinctive
post-war style railing, the prevailing decoration for bridges at the time. This railing style is composed of
a reinforced concrete balustrade penetrated with horizontal rectilinear voids with concrete rail caps.
Other bridges from this period began the first use of metal in guardrail designs. However, during the
'Territory of Hawaii, Superintendent of Public Works, "Highways—a Look at the Score," in Annual
Report to the Governor, Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1953, 2,
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100157967.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
implementation of these federally sponsored projects, many earlier, historic bridges were demolished
and replaced by modern constructions.
3.2: THE HANA HIGHWAY, MAUI: PRE-CONTACT TO THE 1960S
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Before about 1450 CE, Maui was divided into two separate kingdoms, one with a court at Lahaina and
one with a court at Hana. The two were constantly at war, but eventually Piilani of the Maui Ulu line at
Lahaina conquered the east and south parts of the island. His rule is remembered as one of peace,
prosperity, and the construction of public works, including the largest heiau, or temple, in the Hawaiian
Islands. Called Piilanihale, it was built near Honomaele and incorporated massive yet un-mortared stone
walls, some up to fifty feet high, as well as an immense stone platform covering nearly five acres. Of
greater importance to his reign and to his subjects was the creation of a network of unpaved roads
extending throughout Maui, a process that symbolized his unifying power. Each road was laboriously
constructed of hand-fitted, adze-trimmed basalt blocks about two feet on a side and laid in a mosaic to
form paths four to six feet wide. One of these roads ran all the way from Wailuku to Hana—a distance of
approximately sixty miles. In circa 1490 CE, Piilani's son, Kihaapiilani, had the road extended beyond
Hana, through Kaupo Gap, and across Haleakala Crater.
The original route to Hana was well maintained for over 250 years, because it was the only land link
between the two ends of the island. Around 1759, the king of the Big Island, Kalaniopuu, captured Hana
and held it for more than twenty years. During this time, the road fell into disrepair and was purposely
closed to thwart incursions from the north. Nonetheless, in about 1780 Kahekili, the King of north Maui
(or Maui Iki) retook Hana and reopened the road, which by then needed extensive repairs. Not only was
the road cleared, but where stream canyons were deepest wooded bridges were built to replace the old,
treacherous staircases painstakingly carved into the cliffs centuries prior. Even so, the roads could
support no more than foot traffic, and much of it served that function until 1900, though by then Hana
had become a thriving sugar plantation community.
In 1848 Kamehameha III declared the Mahele, allowing for the private ownership of lands. Foreigners
were allowed to own private property in the islands for the first time. Among them was George Wilfong,
a Caucasian sea captain. He capitalized on the needs of the 1849 California gold rush miners by planting
sixty acres of sugar cane in Hana, harvesting it with exploited local laborers, and milling it with contract
workers in nearby Kauiki. All of the sugar was shipped from Hana Bay, and despite the booming
business, there was still no substantial overland trading between the north and south parts of Maui.
Prior to this enterprise Kipahulu and its adjoining districts of Hana and Kaupo had retained their
traditional Hawaiian culture.
In 1877 fifteen miles of unpaved road was constructed from central Maui to Kailua in order to build the
Haiku Ditch, a remarkable engineering feat that watered new cane land on the central Maui plateau. In
1899 the Nahiku Rubber Company planted thousands of experimental rubber trees on the makai
(toward the ocean) side of the old road. This enterprise pushed the unpaved road another fifteen miles
to Nahiku. East Maui's potential tourism value gave the county a strong incentive to promote the idea of
a belt highway to Hana. As early as 1900 the Maui News editorialized in favor of a good wagon road
connecting Hana and central Maui. This prompted the building of the first stretch of improved roadway,
which followed the old road from Keanae to Nahiku, in 1900. The ancient footpath was widened to
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
sixteen feet, to accommodate horse-drawn wagons, and was surfaced with cinders. Because of the
extreme difficulty of the terrain, however, its cost was prohibitive, and the roads were inadequate for
frequent automobile traffic. The 1905 SPW report stated that "very rough country is encountered in
these districts. On account of the great expenses of road construction, the road has been made as
narrow as possible in order to construct, with the money available, the maximum length of road."36
The new road segment functioned so well that there were soon calls to extend it from Kailua all the way
to Kipahulu, well past Hana. The Territorial Legislature, however, was unimpressed and in 1903 refused
to fund the project. Undaunted, commercial entrepreneurs from Paia to Hana lobbied the legislature
heavily, resulting in yet another section being improved, from Kailua to Keanae in 1904. This stretch met
significant construction problems, including jungle encroachment, torrential streams and landslides, all
of which doubled the original $50,000 cost.
Between 1905 and 1908 concrete bridges were built in the ditch country near Nahiku. Bridge building on
Maui surged in 1911, when the Territorial Legislature established a Loan Fund Commission to oversee a
special fund for belt roads. Out of the$1,270,000 appropriated by the Commission in 1911, Maui
received $370,000. This made possible the building of twenty-one Maui bridges:four on the Hana Belt
Road, four on the Piilani Highway south of Hana, six in the upcountry district, six in Central Maui and one
in West Maui. Work on the belt road continued depending on the extent of funding. A narrow road with
several bridges was built from Kailua to Keanae by 1912 with territorial funds. From Hana, contractors
Wilson and McCandless had completed the Nahiku-Keanae section of road by 1915. This road did not
link up with the Kailua extension, but instead dead-ended in the Koolau Forest Reserve. The lack of a
continuous paved road prompted one Maui legislator to complain that"Maui is the only island on which
you cannot traverse by road around it."37
In 1914, inspired by the dramatic expansion of the sugar industry at Hana, the County of Maui Board of
Supervisors unanimously agreed to press the Territorial Legislature for funding to improve the rest of
the old road at least as far as Kipahulu and entertained ambitions to eventually circle the entire island.
The road to Hana became part of a grander vision, called the Belt Road. Unfortunately, Territorial
Governor Lucius Pinkham was adamantly opposed to the project, and consequently it took until 1923
before belt road planning was resurrected and modifications to the ancient route were given serious
consideration.
Until this time, the journey to Hana was made partly over unpaved wagon roads and horse trails, often
rendered impassable by damage from frequent rains.An alternative route through the island's south
side took the traveler through the drier ranch country ending at Kipahulu. Since both land routes were
arduous and slow, the most common means of travel to Hana was by steamer ship. Writer Robert
Wenkam stated that:
When Hana was without a road, and the coastal steamer arrived on a weekly schedule, Hana-
bound travelers unwilling to wait for the boat drove their car to the road's end at Kailua, rode
horseback to Kaumahina ridge, then walked down the switchback into Honomanu Valley.
Friends carried them on flatbed taro trucks across the Keanae peninsula to Wailua cove. By
36 Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Works to the Governor of Hawaii for the Year
Ending June 30, 1905(Honolulu:The Bulletin Publishing Company, Ltd., 1905), 7.
37 "Roads First Need View of Fassoth," Maui News(Wailuku), February 11, 1921.
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outrigger canoe it was a short ride beyond Wailua to Nahiku landing where they could borrow a
car for the rest of the involved trip to Hana. Sometimes the itinerary could be completed in a
day. Bad weather could make it last a week.38
He added:
The road was little more than a wide mud and gravel path for many years until paved by a young
Hawaiian contractor,Johnny Wilson, who later became Mayor of Honolulu. Even when paved,
mudslides plagued the road. The Keanae Chinese store offered overnight rooms to stranded
motorists at first, but later it became accepted practice to wait at the mudslide for a car to
appear from the opposite direction, then slosh across the intervening gap and offer to exchange
cars with the complete stranger on the other side. A handshake would make the temporary
trade official, and both parties would agree to meet the next day when the mud had been
removed by county work crews, who usually arrived on horseback within a few hours.
Ranchers from the other side of the island also benefited by the road. The ranchers and their
friends knew the land well from horseback, but the automobile offered a much easier way to
treat guests to a grand tour of the Hana coast. A one-day trip was now possible and small hotels
in Hana began receiving their first tourists. The Hana [Road] soon earned a reputation of its own
—not as a road to go somewhere on, but as a destination in itself.39
By 1922 Hana was the site of the large Kaeleku sugar plantation and mill. The plantation's manager, Mr.
Joseph Herscherr, favored the proposed Hana Belt Road as "a wonderful tourist asset." Most of Maui's
business interests also favored the construction of a road to Hana but disagreed about the route and
means of financing.40 County Engineer A.P. Low estimated in 1923 that the Hana Belt Road would cost
about$692,000. Citing the highway's high cost, Maui businessman A.F. Tavares instead urged funding
for a less expensive Kipahulu-Kaupo belt road around Maui's south side. But Maui businessmen objected
to all financing proposals which included either county bonds or a special road tax.
Despite its prohibitive cost, the county eventually decided to complete the paved road to Hana. In May
1923, a total of$50,000 was appropriated from the Territorial Legislature for road work, despite the fact
that less than twenty years earlier an equal amount had proved inadequate for a much shorter length of
road, and that an additional $200,000 had been needed to overcome similar construction difficulties.
The more heavily traveled sections from Keanae to Paia, were at least partially paved by 1926, but
farther south the road remained unpaved. The worst of the construction problems lay ahead, between
Kailua and Kopiliula Falls. Here, the earth would not cooperate as easily as farther north because of a
drastic change in soil conditions. The surface soils are highly organic and unstable, so that even very
minor roadway excavations trigger mud slides. In July 1926, a massive landslide covering more than
thirty acres halted further work. Floods during the winter of 1926-27 washed out embankments
constructed not two months earlier. Overruns associated with the already constructed portions left the
Territorial Legislature in no position to continue funding the road. Despite these obstacles, Federal Aid
38 Robert Wenkam, Maui: The Last Hawaiian Place(San Francisco: Friends of the Earth, 1970), 65-66.
39 Ibid.
40"Belt Road Bonds Can be Taken Up," Maui News(Wailuku), May 5, 1922.
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funds were made available to Hawaii in 1925 which provided the necessary relief, and the project
pushed its way towards Hana.
To lower costs, the county administration established a prison camp at Keanae, and pressed the hardest
criminals into road gangs that eventually turned the remaining barely passable trails leading to Hana
into a cinder-paved highway that could handle trucks and cars. Following the road's completion, a
celebration was held, one that included a great luau and exuberant schoolchildren waving small
American flags and marching down to the old cannery site on Hana Bay.
Keeping the road maintained and open, especially along the perilously unstable area between Nahiku
and Kaeleku, was a major undertaking. The Territory, and later the state, hired numerous residents in
and around Hana as seasonal workers dedicated to repairing the damage wrought by mud slides,
rockfalls, downed trees and erosive floods. Makeshift bridges, often composed of inferior materials,
were continually washed out. Forces were enlisted to maintain the road to Hana on a routine basis, and
the remaining early wood bridges were replaced by the present-day reinforced concrete bridges. Even
so, most of the road remained unpaved or only nominally surfaced. Road construction and maintenance
was a fact of life for Hana residents:
The territorial and, later, state departments of transportation became major employers,
supplying cash-jobs residents needed to augment their subsistent lifestyles. The county or state
remained a major source of the jobs residents needed to augment their subsistent farming and
ranching efforts. Men were anxious to work for the county or state road departments.41
A boost for the roadway came in 1934, with the creation of the Hana Coast Civilian Conservation Corps,
one of FDR's job programs designed to combat the effects of the Great Depression. By 1940, the
highway was substantially complete. In 1946, the Hana Ranch developed the first hotel in Hana to
accommodate tourists who made the journey to this previously isolated community by road.
A journalist driving through the ditch country at the time called the Hana Belt Road a "paved trail
following the line of the ditch through the wild jungle."42 It wasn't until 1962 that a reluctant state
legislature, still in its infancy, agreed that the newly created HDOT had to take responsibility for the care
of the road. An unheard-of$2.2 million was allocated for widening, paving and restoring the highway
from beginning to end. When the job was finished in 1964, the "highway" was at last negotiable by even
the heaviest vehicles, at least in good weather. Since 1985, a well-planned maintenance program has
preserved the road as one of Hawaii's most scenic and treasured drives. Residents have resisted a major
upgrading of the roadway since improvements would "result in a tidal wave of visitors and would
destroy the fragile balance between being fed by tourism and being consumed by it."43
Today, the sixty-mile road to Hana from Wailuku, State Highway 360, offers residents and tourists alike
one of the most spectacularly scenic automobile routes in Hawaii. Since 2001, the Hana Highway has
41 Leonard Lueras and Ron Youngblood, On the Hana Coast:Being and Accounting of Adventures, Past
and Present, in a Land where the Hand of Man Seems to Rest Lightly(Honolulu: Emphasis International,
1983), 77.
42 "Writer Takes You Around the Isle—Maui This Time," Honolulu Advertiser, April 27, 1940.
43 Lueras and Youngblood, On the Hana Coast, 81.
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been listed on the NRHP for its scenic beauty and for its numerous early-twentieth-century concrete
girder and slab bridges that spanned valleys, gorges, and waterfalls.44
3.3: THE OLD MAMALAHOA HIGHWAY, HAWAII ISLAND: PRE-CONTACT TO 1960S
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Mamalahoa Highway takes its name from the edict of King Kamehameha, the great Hawaiian
conqueror who united the Hawaiian Islands. Mamala hoe(literally"the way or law of the broken canoe
paddle"), popularly known as the "Law of the Splintered Paddle", guaranteed the safety of the highways
to all travelers. During his travels on the Island of Hawaii, Kamehameha and his men came upon a fishing
village in the Keaau region of the island; one of the fishermen, defending his territorial rights, hit the
king with a wooden canoe paddle, shattering it into pieces. The king subsequently issued an edict that all
men should be free to travel the roads of the islands unimpeded.An alternative interpretation suggests
that Mamalahoa (literally"law of the friend") refers to the death of Kamehameha's guard at the hands
of the king's supporters after failing to protect Kamehameha from the assault. The guard was killed by
pulling a spear back and forth through his body, thus simulating the movement of a canoe paddle.
Kamehameha, stricken by the death of his friend, consequently issued the famous edict. Kamehameha's
edict established a precedent for contemporary state laws which ensure free access to areas
traditionally accessible in pre-contact Hawaii, such as upland trails and coastal beaches.
The Old Mamalahoa Highway was built roughly along the route of an ancient Hawaiian footpath (Ala
Kahakai)that was to become a nineteenth century horse trail. Pre-contact Hawaiians preferred travel by
canoe; however, the coastal trails were used in bad weather and rough seas.
Historian Russell Apple suggests that the coastal trail was the path taken by the ancient Hawaiians
during the Makahiki celebration. The annual Makahiki season, which runs approximately from October
to February, was an event of major religious, economic, and political importance. During the Makahiki,
the image of the god Lono was carried through each island district by priests, and offerings (some
suggest"taxes") were collected for the king.
In 1823 the Reverend William Ellis and his party were the first westerners to complete a circuit of the
island of Hawaii. Ellis'journal, first published in Boston in 1825, chronicled this trip with detailed
observations of geology, botany, population, social and religious customs, political structure, history,
and legends. Generally, Ellis'trip followed the Hawaiian Makahiki trail, although some portions, such as
the rugged, ravine-cut section between Hilo and Laupahoehoe, were traversed by canoe.
In 1873, the Victorian traveler and writer Isabella L. Bird made the journey from Hilo to Waipio on
horseback. She described the trip in a series of letters written to her sister between January and August
of that year. Upon leaving Hilo, she wrote:
The track crosses the deep, still Wailuku river on a wooden bridge, and then after winding up a
steep hill...hangs on the verge of lofty precipices which descend perpendicularly down to the
sea, dips into tremendous gulches, loses itself in the bright fern-fringed torrents which have
cleft their way down from the mountains...Then the track goes down with a great dip [after
passing through the sugar plantation of Kaiwiki], along which we slip and slide in the mud to a
44 Deunsing, Hawai'i's Scenic Roads, 170-174, 255.
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deep broad stream...Our accustomed horses leaped into a ferry-scow provided by the
Government...and leaped out on the other side to climb a track cut on the side of the precipice,
which would be steep to mount on one's own feet.45
Continuing beyond Onomea, where Isabella Bird stopped at the plantation of the Austin family, she
described her journey onto Waipio Valley on the north-east shore of the island:
The dimpling Pacific was never more than a mile from us as we kept the narrow track in the long
green grass, and on our left the blunt snow-patched peaks of Mauna Kea rose from the girdle of
forest...The track for twenty-six miles is just in and out of gulches, from 100 to 800 feet in depth,
all opening to the sea, which sweeps into them in three booming rollers.
All the gulches for the first twenty-four miles contain running water. The great Hakalau gulch we
crossed early yesterday, has a river with a smooth bed as wide as the Thames at Eton. Some
have only small, quiet streams, which pass gently through ferny grottoes. Others have fierce
torrents dashing between abrupt walls of rock, among immense boulders into deep abysses,
and cast themselves over precipice after precipice into the ocean...A few are crossed on narrow
bridges, but the majority are forded.46
Bird claimed that the "worst pall of all [was] the south side of Laupahoehoe." She stated that"Mr.
Brigham in his valuable monograph on the Hawaiian volcanoes...appears as much impressed with these
gulches as I am."47 She quoted Brigham in her journal:
The road from Hilo to Laupahoehoe, a distance of thirty miles, runs somewhat inland, and is one
of the most remarkable in the world. Ravines, 1,800 or 2,000 feet deep, and less than a mile
wide, extend far up the slopes of Mauna Kea. Streams, liable to sudden and tremendous
freshnets, must be traversed on a path of indescribable steepness, winding zig-zag up and down
the beautifully-wooded slopes or precipices, which are ornamented with cascades of every
conceivable form. Few strangers, when they come to the worst precipices, dare to ride down,
but such is the natures of the rough steps, that horse or mule will pass them with less difficulty
than a man on foot who is unused to climbing. No less than sixty-five streams must be crossed in
a distance of thirty miles.48
After leaving the area north of Laupahoehoe, Bird happily claimed that"There [were] no large gulches
on today's journey. The track is mostly through long grass, over undulating uplands."49 Forty years later,
in 1913, after the establishment of the Territory of Hawaii and the county government's initial efforts to
45 Isabella Bird Bishop, The Hawaiian Archipelago:Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and
Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands, 1st American ed., reprinted from the 5th English ed. (New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1894), 97-98.
46 Ibid., 118-121.
47 Ibid., 121.
48 William T. Brigham, A.M., Notes on the Volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands with a History of their
Various Eruptions(Boston: Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1868), quoted in Bishop, The Hawaiian
Archipelago, 122.
49 Bishop, The Hawaiian Archipelago, 127.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
improve the road, Henry Walsworth Kinney described the same journey along the Hamakua coast.
Kinney, writing tourism copy for the Hilo Board of Trade, claimed that:
No visitor to the Island of Hawaii should neglect to see the road which leads north from Hilo to
the Hamakua district. One of the most beautiful roads in the island, it presents, as it winds
through scores of tropical gulches, a constantly changing panorama of unsurpassable beauty. To
autoists the road is a delightful experience, and the ease of the grades and careful construction
of the somewhat sharp turns will call forth his unstinted admiration of the road builders of the
scenic isle.'
Between 1900 and 1905, the Territory undertook the laborious process of obtaining the necessary rights
of way for the "Relocating and Reconstruction of the Main Road" and contracts were let for the
construction of new concrete bridges and culverts to replace older, weak timber bridges in various
locations along the North Hilo and Hamakua coast. In what one historian has termed a deliberate plan to
wrest power for the Hawaiian and away from the American Territorial government, county governments
were established by the Legislature of 1905. The counties were given the power to appropriate and
expend funds through a county Board of Supervisors. However, the counties suffered chronic shortage
of funds for road construction, even though money previously allotted to the state departments were
being divided amongst the counties of Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. The governor's message to
the 1911 Legislature suggested the issuance of territorial bonds for belt road funding, and $600,000 was
subsequently made available to the Big Island from bonds that were floated. Utilizing these funds, the
county began the systematic improvement of the island's belt road and bridges.
The first contract from this fund was awarded in 1912 to A.A. Wilson, the Hilo contractor who had
worked on Hilo Railroad's Hakalau Extension. His contract was for the reconstruction of the belt road
from Wainaku,just outside of Hilo, to Hakalau and included an unspecified number of bridges and
culverts. His winning low bid was$98,698.35. The second contract was won by Territorial Senator John
Brown the same year. He was to rebuild the belt road and bridges (with the exception of one long span
in good condition)from Hakalau to Pohakupuka for$99,587. A third contract went to Lord and Young of
Honolulu for the stretch between Kaawalii and Kealakekua, south of Kona, for$106,514.35. Not
surprisingly, there were complaints voiced about the expenditure of the funds, the loudest emanating
from the Board of Supervisors whose authority was being superseded. Many expected the$600,000 to
build a whole new belt road, rather than the short, expensive pieces of road that resulted. Another bond
issue in 1917 provided an additional $265,000 for Big Island roads, but the costs and difficulties of
construction did not allow for the completion of the belt road until 1933.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Hamakua Coast was the site of several major sugar
plantation communities with tens of thousands of residents. The Mamalahoa Highway was the main
transportation link between the small plantation communities located along this coastline. The rugged
terrain of the coast would not allow for the transportation of cane by road, thus elaborate flume
systems were devised to get the sugar from the fields to the mills located along the coastline. Sugar was
then processed at mills and off-loaded onto barges docked at the few landings for shipment to Honolulu
or the Mainland. In many cases, the steep coastal bluffs made landing a ship impossible and
necessitated the use of cable and pully systems to load the sugar into the holds of the ships. In 1911-12,
s° Henry Walsworth Kinney, The Island of Hawaii(Hilo: Hilo Board of Trade, 1917), 24.
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the Hawaii Consolidated Railroad established a rail line to Paauilo and sugar was transported to Hilo for
shipment from its harbor. The rail line brought many changes to the Hamakua coast, including the
relocation of many of the mills away from the coast to access the rail service. Trucking sugar to Hilo
along the narrow, winding government road (the Old Mamalahoa Highway) was not an economical
alternative to the relatively straight run along the rail line.
BRIDGES ALONG THE OLD MAMALAHOA HIGHWAY
The suggested area for a proposed Mamalahoa Highway Historic Bridge District is comprised of forty-
four bridges and thirteen culverts along approximately sixty miles of the Old Mamalahoa Highway on
the island of Hawaii. The highway, also noted as the "Old Government Road" begins north of the
Wailuku River in Hilo and passes through the districts of South Hilo, North Hilo and Hamakua. It
terminates near the town of Kamuela at mile point 52 of the Hawaii Belt Road. The highway was the
principal belt road linking the small towns and sugar plantations along the Hamakua coast of the Island
of Hawaii. The bridges in this proposed district include the oldest and rarest, as well as the most
ornamental and scenic spans in the state.
The first road around the island was begun by the kingdom's Department of the Interior in 1847,
however it remained little more than a horse path until the time of King Kalakaua. During Kalakaua's
reign (1874-1891) appropriations for public works improvements escalated, and many steel and timber
bridges were constructed. Unfortunately, none of these early bridges remain. Roadway and bridge
construction was not significantly affected by the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of
the Republic of Hawaii in 1893. However, after the annexation of Hawaii by United States in 1898, public
works improvements, particularly bridge and road construction, became a priority on all islands. The
fifty-seven bridges of the proposed Mamalahoa Highway Historic Bridge District were constructed
between 1894 and 1933 and date from the Republic and early Territorial periods.
The earliest bridges are the masonry and solid-spandrel concrete arches constructed by the Republic,
and later Territory, of Hawaii prior to the establishment of the county governments in 1905 (of which
there are nine extant examples). Between 1911 and 1933, the County of Hawaii began to appropriate
Territorial Loan Funds for the systematic upgrading of the island's roads and bridges. The highest priority
was placed on belt road improvement, and a series of reinforced concrete bridges were planned for
stream crossings along the old Government Road. The bridges were designed by the County Engineer's
Office and built by local contractors. These county bridges were of two primary types: simple reinforced
concrete girder or flat slab bridges for short spans (thirty-three examples); and more ornate and
technologically sophisticated open-and solid-spandrel concrete arch bridges for longer, more visible
spans (seven examples). The remaining bridges are inexpensive timber girder bridges built during the
Depression years (eight examples).
Generally, one parapet end of the reinforced concrete county bridges is inscribed with a number
indicating the island district in which it was built followed by the bridge number. The date of
construction is inscribed on the other parapet end. The remaining bridges in South Hilo district are
numbered from 1 to 29; those in North Hilo district are numbered from 103 to 126; and remaining
bridges in the Hamakua district are numbered from 209 to 251. This marking system is unique to the
bridges of the Old Mamalahoa Highway. The last county bridge was constructed on the Old Mamalahoa
Highway in 1933. Between 1932 and 1958, the THD began to construct a new highway around the
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
island. The modern highway, called the Hawaii Belt Road, became part of the Federal Aid Primary(FAP)
highway system. The new road straightened out, bisected, and often bypassed the circuitous Old
Mamalahoa Highway.
NARRATIVE STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE OF PROPOSED MAMALAHOA HIGHWAY HISTORIC BRIDGE
DISTRICT
The bridges in the proposed Mamalahoa Highway Historic Bridge District are eligible under Criterion A as
prominent products of the Republic of Hawaii and representative of Territorial and County public works
efforts. The bridges in the proposed Mamalahoa Highway Historic Bridge District are significant for their
contributions to engineering and transportation in Hawaii. The development of the Old Mamalahoa
Highway contributed to the economic development of the island by linking the small towns and sugar
plantations along the Hamakua coast with the island's principal port in Hilo. The construction of the
bridges was a deliberate investment in permanent public works improvements requiring the
mobilization of skilled labor and significant public funds. Thus, these bridges were often constructed at
important crossings along major transportation routes. The bridges served as important links in the
circum-island transportation system, aiding in the commercial and residential development of Hilo and
the Hamakua Coast. Reinforced concrete arch bridges were constructed to replace earlier timber and
metal bridges. Many of these bridges were visually prominent, both in style and location, and made
significant civic statements regarding the technical and aesthetic sophistication of the communities in
which they were built. Concrete deck bridges are eligible under Criterion A for their associations with of
the first use of formal engineering expertise in bridge making by the new county governments shortly
after the annexation of Hawaii by the United States. These road bridges played a major role in the
development of County of Hawaii's belt road plan by connecting previously isolated communities with a
paved highway.
The bridges are eligible under Criterion C since they represent a visual timeline of bridge construction
technology in Hawaii. Nearly every historic bridge type remaining in the islands is represented along the
Old Mamalahoa Highway. The masonry arch bridges are notable examples of the use of vernacular
building materials and local craftsmen. Masonry and concrete arch bridges often evidence a high degree
of detailing and workmanship, and the few remaining examples are rare survivors of these once
common bridge types. Furthermore, the reinforced concrete arch bridges constructed along the
Mamalahoa Highway are among the earliest examples of reinforced concrete bridge construction in the
state. Concrete deck bridges, including flat slab, girder and tee beam spans, are representative of the
most common historic bridge type found in the islands. The majority of county-built bridges, such as the
Maili and Kaiwiki Bridges, were of this type as were the subsidiary spans on Mamalahoa-Honolii Bridge.
Moreover, many of the bridges are examples of exceptional work by important local builders (the "work
of a master") such as Louis M. Whitehouse,Johnny Wilson, Peter and Charles Arioli, and Hisato Isemoto.
Prominent designers include William H. Chun and En Leong Wung.
The fifty-seven bridges and culverts that make-up the proposed Mamalahoa Highway Historic Bridge
District are evaluated as a group. Together these bridges form an area encompassing the entire sixty
miles of the Mamalahoa Highway. Individually, the bridges in this proposed district range from
technologically simple timber and masonry arch bridges to the more complex concrete deck girder and
flat slab bridges. Together these bridges form a cohesive group built in a relatively short time period that
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
document the evolution of style, methods and bridge building technology in Hawaii. This group of
bridges played a critical role in the development of belt road transportation for the island of Hawaii.
3.4: HAWAII BELT ROAD, HAWAII ISLAND: PRE-CONTACT TO THE 1960S
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Many railroads were established in the Hawaiian Islands during the Kingdom, Republic and early
territorial periods by private interests in the sugar industry. For the most part, these sugar trains were
narrow-gauge lines. However, in 1899, the Hilo Railroad Company(HRC) was established on the Island of
Hawaii to carry sugar cane along the rugged Hamakua coast to the port of Hilo and constructed in
standard-gauge (4 ft. 8% inches between the rails), unique on the islands. Reorganized in 1916 as the
Hawaii Consolidated Railway(HCR), the railroad continued to be colloquially referred to as the Hilo
Railroad and operated until 1946, when a tsunami heavily damaged the line.51 Among the railroad's
engineering feats included fourteen large steel trestle railroad bridges were built in 1911-12. In 1950-53,
five of these were modified by the Territorial Department of Transportation as part of the Seismic Wave
Rehabilitation Project for use as highway bridges and another was constructed utilizing trusses from the
span over the Wailuku River.
The plantations of South Hilo, North Hilo, and Hamakua districts were producing raw sugar within a few
years after the Reciprocity Treaty of 1876. The treaty allowed Hawaiian sugar to be exported to the
American mainland duty-free. The treaty was later expanded to include a clause that allowed the United
States to build a Naval Station at Pearl Harbor on Oahu. The sugar industry developed rapidly in the
islands; and by 1900, one-quarter of the sugar produced in the Territory was grown on the Hamakua
coast. The land above the steep coastal bluffs, at the base of the dormant Mauna Kea volcano, was
gently sloping and fertile. Most plantations were from two to three miles deep, their altitudes ranging
from 250 feet closest to the sea to 2,000 feet at their upper boundaries;their ocean frontage varied
from two to six miles. The rain which produced sugar had also produced the myriad gulches that had for
so long kept the area isolated. The only road to Hilo's harbor was the government wagon trail that was
almost impassable in the rainy season, and which suffered from constant bridge washouts. As an
alternative to using the road, some plantations had railroads with either locomotive or animal power;
others used flumes or cable railways to move cut cane from the high fields to the mills which were
usually close to the sea. The mills employed a cumbersome method of derricks and pulleys at various
landings high above the coast to load their produce on to ships for market.
Hilo was located at the southern end of the long string of sugar plantations on Hawaii's east coast. Large
tracks of prime agricultural land lay to the south of the town, awaiting development by entrepreneurs
with vision and capital. In 1898, Benjamin Franklin Dillingham, a noted Hawaiian businessman, drew up
plans for a large sugar mill at Olaa, eight miles south of Hilo in the previously uncultivated Puna district.
Then he applied for a charter for the railroad that would be needed to transport the raw sugar to the
wharf in Hilo. The Hilo Railroad Company(HRC) was incorporated in 1899 by Dillingham, Lorrin Thurston
51 Arthur Y. Akinaka, "Railroad Transportation," in An Historic Inventory of the Physical, Social and
Economic and Industrial Resources of the Territory of Hawaii, ed. Territorial Planning Board (Honolulu:
Advertiser Publishing Co., Ltd.), 284, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002043955;
"History of the Hawaii Consolidated Railroad," Laupahoehoe Train Museum, accessed January 4, 2024,
https://www.thetrainmuseum.com/history.html.
65
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
(the Minister to Washington during the Republic of Hawaii and a former Interior Minister under the
monarchy), and Mark Robinson (Minister of Foreign Affairs for Queen Liliuokalani). The charter for the
Hilo Railroad, granted by the Republic of Hawaii, was issued on March 28, 1899. Under its charter, the
Hilo Railroad was authorized — for a period of fifty years — to build a railroad anywhere on the island of
Hawaii, with free use of government lands for the right-of-way, yards, or station areas. Dillingham had
just completed a three-foot narrow-gauge Oahu Railway& Land Company(OR&L) and was aware that
the popularity of narrow-gauge for trunk lines was on the wane. Consequently, he announced that the
Hilo Railroad would be built to standard gauge (4-foot 8% inches), the first and only standard-gauge
railroad in the islands.
The railroad barons determined that the wharf in Hilo was inadequate to attract the business of large
shipping lines. Freighters anchored in deep water had to use lighters, and the whole operation was
relatively unprotected from heavy seas during the storm season. A new wharf, sheltered from the sea by
a breakwater, was proposed; but its construction was beyond the means of either the railroad or the
Territory of Hawaii. The breakwater, designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and financed by the
U.S. Congress, left the railroad with the responsibility for building the wharf. One of the conditions
imposed by the government for the improvement of Hilo's harbor was that the railroad company extend
its railroad line north along the coast to service the sugar plantations of Hamakua.
The railroad construction project was a daring engineering feat that crossed the numerous gorges and
streams with large steel bridges at the valley mouths and required massive earth cuts for the completion
of the comparatively straight roadbed. This was in direct contrast to the more conservative government
policy of winding roads and small concrete or timber bridges in the backs of valleys or down sharp
grades to sea level. The high cut in the north wall of Hakalau gulch remains as an example of the degree
of earth moving accomplished by the railroad engineers. Work on the first section, 12.7 miles from Hilo
to the Hakalau Mill, began in 1908 and was completed in 1911. Construction of the second phase, from
Hakalau to Paauilo, continued through 1912, with costs of$106,000 per mile, for a total of$3,500,000.
The company succeeded in erecting fourteen steel bridges, five wood and steel combination bridges,
and twenty-four wooden trestles. These bridges, along with two tunnels and expensive grading, gave
the Hilo Railroad "one of the highest per-mile construction costs of any railroad under the Stars and
Stripes."52
The specifications and design for the bridges were drawn up by John Mason Young, the founder of
Pacific Engineering Company of Honolulu and a pioneer faculty member of the College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts (later the University of Hawaii). Young had been involved in steel bridge design and
construction on mainland railroads before coming to Hawaii. The bridges' components were ordered
from the New York firm of Hamilton and Chambers (who also fabricated the steel for the Hanalei River
Bridge on Kauai the same year) and were erected by W.W. Beers, described by the Hilo Tribune as a New
York engineer. All of the steel trestle bridges erected by the railroad were of the same type, deep steel
girders with 66-to-72-foot spans set on wide steel trestles and masonry(lava-rock) abutments. The
bridges were assembled at the Waiakea railroad yards and shipped out to their sites on railroad cars.
52,John B. Hungerford, Hawaiian Railroads:A Memoir of the Common Carriers of the Fiftieth State
(Reseda, California: Hungerford Press, n.d.), 55.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
w° ", y r "� � , ••„� -e ms x, d s 1 r,•: .
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FIGURE 20.VIEW OF STEEL TRESTLE BRIDGE ON HAMAKUA COAST.SOURCE: DIGITAL ARCHIVES OF HAWAI'I,PP-6-1-
019, HTTPS://DIGITALARCHIVES.HAWAII.GOV/ITEM/ARK:70111/0755.
The Hakalau trestle, built in 1911 during the railroad's second phase of construction, was one of the
most impressive bridges built by the Hilo Railroad. At 775 feet long and sitting on seven steel towers, the
Hakalau Bridge was the second longest bridge on the line, outdistanced only by the Maulua Bridge at
more than 1000 feet. After the Maulua Bridge was taken down, Hakalau was converted for use as a
highway bridge and was, for several years, the longest highway bridge in the territory until the Kalihiwai
Bridge on Kauai and the Pearl City Viaduct on Oahu were built. Hakalau was also among the tallest with
a height of 171 feet, only 30 feet shy of the tallest bridge over Nanue Stream. As late as 1981, Nanue
was the highest bridge in the state at 207 feet. A higher bridge had been built at Maliko Gulch on Maui,
but it was dynamited in 1967.
In addition to the steel trestles built by the Hilo Railroad, two multi-span steel truss bridges were
constructed over the Wailuku and Wailoa Rivers. These bridges suffered from their positions close to sea
level and were the most problematic for the railroad to maintain. The Wailoa drawbridge was destroyed
in 1923 by a tidal wave and was remounted on concrete piers. The Wailuku railroad bridge suffered
several mishaps. While it was being erected in 1909, a Porter tank engine slipped over its edge into the
cIII !
67
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
river. Fifteen years later, "it collapsed in a mysterious manner," its piers folding like dominos.53 The
collapse was attributed to the 1923 tidal wave and earthquake and was precipitated by the passage of a
loaded passenger train. In 1924, the Wailuku Bridge was replaced by a metal truss bridge of three spans,
mounted on concrete piers. These bridges only lasted in place until the 1946 tsunami.
Burdened with debt and unable to meet its obligations, the Hilo Railroad Company was forced into
receivership in 1916 and plans for the expansion of the line were abandoned. The railroad was sold for
$1,000,000 to the bondholders and reorganized as the Hawaii Consolidated Railway(HCR). In 1920, the
new owners bought three additional passenger coaches as part of a program aimed at catering to the
tourist business. In cooperation with the steamship companies, sightseeing specials, operating under the
name of Scenic Express, were run on the Hamakua Division when passenger ships were in port. Author
Gerald Best described his experience traveling along the coast: "We had seen waterfalls cascading down
the slopes of Mauna Kea, passed through magnificent groves of tropical trees and entrancing fields of
flowers, and looked upon a completely unforgettable vista of sea and mountains. No wonder the
tourists who rode the Scenic Express years ago recalled it as the highlight of their visit to Hawaii."54
In the 1930s the Depression affected the tourist trade and passenger business dropped off to a low of
16,681 in 1936. Passenger cars were retired, and some cars were converted to haul bagasse (sugar cane
after the juice has been pressed out) to the cane manufacturing plant in Hilo. During World War II,
passenger business picked up due to gas rationing, and several old coaches were used to transport
servicemen from Hilo to Paauilo, en route to the U.S. Marine Corp training camp at Waimea. By the end
of 1945, the railroad was making money and would soon be out of debt for the first time in its existence.
On April 1, 1946, a tsunami hit Hilo at 7:01 AM. The Hawaii Consolidated Railroad suffered irreparable
damage. Freight cars were floated inland, all of the track along the waterfront was washed out, the Hilo
station and the adjacent buildings were in shambles, and the first span of the Wailuku River bridge, a
steel truss, was washed hundreds of feet up the river. In spite of the breakwater, freight cars on the
docks were washed into the bay, some floating out to sea and others thrown up on shore. Twelve miles
north of Hilo, the railroad bridge at the mouth of the Kolekole Stream lost its center span. Facing an
estimated repair cost of$500,000, the railroad asked shippers to determine whether they would use the
line if it were rebuilt or were intending to ship their raw sugar by truck. Only Theo H. Davies Ltd. voted
to retain the railroad; the rest voted to use the existing highways, despite their poor condition. Hawaii
Consolidated then offered its entire right-of-way, including all bridges and tunnels, to the THD and to
the County of Hawaii supervisors. Both agencies declined the railroad's offer.
The entire railroad was sold as scrap to Gilmore Steel &Supply Company of San Francisco for$81,000.
About the time the scrappers had finished pulling up the rails and begun dismantling the steel bridges,
the THD decided that the Hawaii Belt Road, along the Hamakua Coast, should be improved by relocating
it along the railroad right-of-way and utilizing the railroad trestles as highway bridge supports. In great
haste, it made a deal with Gilmore Steel &Supply to buy those bridges still in place, as well as the parts
of bridges already trucked to Hilo, for$303,723.53, nearly four times the amount the scrappers had paid
to Hawaii Consolidated for the entire railroad.
53 Thomas Thrum, Hawaiian Almanac and Annual(Honolulu: Hawaiian Gazette Company, 1924), 94.
54 Gerald M. Best, Railroads of Hawaii:Narrow and Standard Gauge Common Carriers(San Marino,
California: Golden West Books, 1978), 155.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
In 1950, the THD, under the direction of William R. Bartels, and the Independent Iron Works of Oakland,
California undertook the "Seismic Wave Damage Rehabilitation Project." Plans were developed to adapt
the existing steel railroad trestles into highway bridges. Utilizing remnants of railroad trestles and
trusses, the roadbeds were widened and strengthened. The Hakalau Bridge, for example, utilized steel
girders scavenged from the Kealakaha, Laupahoehoe, and Kaula trestles while the steel bents were
taken from the Maulua Bridge. A macadamized concrete deck was laid, and concrete rails installed along
both sides of the new highway bridges. The two remaining truss spans of the Wailuku River Railroad
Bridge were incorporated into the reconstruction of the Kolekole Highway Bridge. Two concrete piers
from the truss bridge remain in use under the present Wailuku Bridge which carries the Hawaii Belt
Road (designated FAP 19) over the river.
The steel railroad bridges built by the Hilo Railroad Company lasted the life of the railroad and beyond.
However, even after their reconstruction, they have proved to be expensive to maintain. A Department
of Transportation maintenance team, the "High Bridge Crew", is dedicated solely to the upkeep of the
five remaining steel trestle bridges, while another crew is able to maintain all the other state bridges on
the island.
THE HILO-HAMAKUA HERITAGE COASTLINE
The windward part of the Big Island (once known as The Sugar Coast) is a continuous series of
plantations linked from Hilo to Honokaa. A railroad hauled sugar to the Hilo piers and provided a lifeline
for transporting people and supplies. High trestles spanned the gulches of this part of the island.
This region is Hawaii's wet district, starting at Upolu Point, the northern tip of the island, and running
through Hamakua and into the Hilo District, which supported many large sugar plantations. From Niulii
in North Kohala, the coast is a series of canyons with rivers pouring out of the Kohala Mountains or off
of Mauna Kea. Travel was problematic closer to the coast.
After the tsunami of 1946, construction of the new Hawaii Belt Road (FAP 19) was accelerated. The new
road was an engineering feat, containing fifty-six bridges in forty-two miles.
The THD's first postwar priority on the Big Island was the Hamakua Coast Highway. There were several
reasons for this immediate attention. The upgrade of the existing roads had been interrupted by the
war, and what existed was piecemeal. In addition, the Hawaii Consolidated Railway service to sugar
plantations was terminated and plantations were forced to truck their sugar to Hilo on the narrow
winding Belt Road. This method was dangerous for the large trucks as there were many hairpin turns
and periodic bridge washouts.
Some of the components of the defunct railroad bridges were reused for the upgraded two-lane
highway between Hilo and Honokaa. The complete reconstruction of these forty miles of highway was
quite expensive, since it was "Hawaii's most bridged highway" with more than one bridge per mile.'
The original cost estimate for the road was twelve million dollars and included a "Highline" portion of
the highway from Pepeekeo to Ookala. The existing route consisted of 340 curves with narrow bridges
varying from 12' to 18' wide. The proposed highline portion would have realigned this twenty-four miles
of dangerous highway at a higher elevation where the gulches were less wide. The Hamakua "Highline"
ss Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 2.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
proposal was subsequently not adopted, and the cost of this section of highway grew to 17.5 million
dollars by the mid-1950s.
Roughly two-thirds of the Hamakua road was finished (a total of thirty-five bridges) during the tenure of
Highway Commissioner Robert M. Belt, from 1952-1958.56
POST-WORLD WAR II HAWAII BELT ROAD BRIDGES
There are a number of significant bridges constructed after World War II along the Postwar Hawaii Belt
Road. Thirteen of these bridges represent the best examples of post-war bridges in the state of Hawaii.
Along the same stretch of road, there are an additional six trestle bridges built during the same postwar
time period, which are listed on the HRHP. (See Hawaii Belt Road Map, Chapter 6.)The Postwar Hawaii
Belt Road is not considered as a district, but bridges are significant as a group of post-war bridges on the
Belt Road.
Additionally, many of these bridges are the work of a person of significance. William R. Bartels, Chief
Engineer for the THD, was responsible for all major territorial bridge projects from 1932-1956. Bartels
was a German born engineer who worked briefly for a sugar plantation on Maui before being hired by
the THD in 1932. He designed most of the territorial bridges from then until 1957.
Bartels was responsible for the largest and most sophisticated bridge construction projects in Hawaii
during this time and there was a marked shift to large deck girder and rigid frame bridges. Bartels was
considered a "cracker-jack" engineer who enjoyed the challenge of a difficult assignment, and his work
characteristically utilized the latest technology and involved a high degree of engineering complexity.
Nonetheless, his bridges show refined aesthetic sensibility which makes them distinctive from work of
other engineers. He ended his tenure as Chief of the Bridge Division at age 70. This was well past the
standard age of retirement, but he was kept on by special permission and out of necessity as his abilities
were so great. Bridges designed by Bartels have often been hailed for their accomplishment of
engineering as well as aesthetics.
3.5: THE PALI HIGHWAY, OAHU: PRE-CONTACT TO THE 1960S
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Plans to build a trans-Koolau Range tunnel to link Honolulu and the windward side of Oahu were
discussed prior to World War II, but the war forced a postponement. Later, the rapid growth of the city's
population, the development of residential areas on the windward side, as well as the needs of the
armed services during World War II convinced public officials that building a tunnel through the Koolau
Range was inescapable. With each passing year, it became more and more obvious that the existing,
narrow Nuuanu Pali road no longer met the transportation needs of the rapidly growing communities on
the windward side, as between 1940 and 1950 Kailua's population increased four hundred percent,
going from 1,400 to more than 7,000.
The only question which remained to be answered was where to place the tunnel. This proved to be not
a simple question to answer, as the City and County of Honolulu and the Territory of Hawaii had
different thoughts on this matter, the former advocating a tunnel through the Koolau Mountains via
s6 Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 79-80.
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Kalihi valley, while the latter preferred following a route through Nuuanu valley. While the City and
County was moving ahead with plans for Kalihi valley, in December 1947 Territorial SPW Robert Belt
unveiled two alternative plans for converting the existing Pali Road into a four lane highway which in the
eyes of Nuuanu residents was, "a 'four lane speedway' running through their neighborhood."57 In
addition to Nuuanu residents, the City and County, led by Mayor John Wilson, also expressed opposition
to the highway plans, as they saw them as competing for limited federal funds, which the Mayor hoped
to obtain for the construction of the county proposed highway through Kalihi. In the ensuing years the
pros and cons of each alternative were repeatedly raised, traffic counts were made, population growth
was studied, military opinion was solicited, and financial programs were analyzed in an effort to settle
upon one of the routes and throughout the process both governments steadfastly advocated for their
proposal. Eventually both highways were built. However, it took over a decade of bickering, courtroom
fighting, delays, and squabbling to attain the result.
The issue of choosing between the Kalihi and Nuuanu tunnel routes appeared to be finally settled when
the Federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), on December 1, 1949, approved federal funding for the
Territory of Hawaii's proposed Nuuanu valley tunnel project. The decision came at the end of a two-
week, on-site study by the Bureau's Western Region Chief L. I. Hughes, Division 7 Engineer Charles C.
Morris, and District Engineer Frank F. Carlson. In their report the federal officials based their finding on
the fact that the current Nuuanu Pali road was, "now close to the possible capacity of the highway."58
The report went on to state that no federal aid would be made available until the Territory of Hawaii
and City and County of Honolulu came to a resolution on the highway route between Country Club Road
and Reservoir No. 4, as the City and County Planning Commission had refused to amend the City's
Master Plan to include the Territory of Hawaii's proposal for a new, realigned Pali Highway. Governor
Stainback resolved this issue by executive order three days after the release of the federal report, when
on December 3, 1949, he set aside the City and County's master plan with regards to the Pali Highway.
Federal officials also noted that when granting their approval for the proposed highway running up the
Ewa side of Nuuanu valley, they did so with the understanding the section of the existing Pali Road
between the Carter residence and the Halfway House on the windward side of the island would remain
undisturbed as a scenic alternate or detour for tourist or sight-seeing traffic. The report also indicated
the Bureau of Public Roads would look favorably upon a request to provide federal aid to a spur road in
Kalihi Valley which would run from School Street to the Forest Reserve. The City and County would need
to fund any service roads connecting to the federally assisted spur road. The report also noted that
while assisting in the development of the Kalihi valley road, that proposed project "should not impair
other necessary federal aid construction, that is, the Pali Highway."59 In conclusion the report noted,
"when future traffic needs warrant, this Kalihi route shown by the Planning commission survey will be
considered for inclusion in the federal aid system."60
As a prelude to the construction of the new Pali Highway, the Territorial DPW opened bids on December
21, 1949, for a new four lane highway which would run from the Kaneohe Ranch office building at the
foot of the Pali to the Kailua-Waimanalo Junction.J. M. Tanaka secured the contract for the new, 1.86-
57 "City Will Protest Nuuanu Road and Ask Fund Delay," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 17, 1947.
58 "Federal Officials Approve Nuuanu Valley Tunnel Plan," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 1st, 1949.
59Ibid.
6o Ibid.
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mile highway, with a bid of$963,319. Considered to be "one of the territory's most modern highways"
the new four lane divided highway replaced an existing narrow, two lane road, a segment of which is
now known as Auloa Road.61 The new highway followed a completely new alignment, and although only
three tenths of a mile shorter than the existing road, eliminated twenty-two curves, supplanting them
with two curves, each with a broad radius.
To facilitate this more direct, straight-line route, a hillside was cut resulting in the excavation of over
600,000 cubic yards of dirt, and two bridges were constructed, one over Maunawili Stream and the
other over Kahanaiki Stream. In constructing the Kahanaiki Stream Bridge a new technology, involving
the driving of sand drains, was employed. In order to overcome the fifteen to forty feet of mud in the
stream bed, a sand-filled, fifty-foot-long steel pipe, twenty inches in diameter, with a mushroom like cap
at the bottom, was driven into the stream bed. As the pipe was removed the sand inside filled the hole.
Over two hundred of these sand drains were placed in the 600-foot stretch of road crossing the
Kahanaiki Swamp. The drains allowed settlement, which usually required ten years, to occur within 120
days. In addition, Maunawili swamp was cleared of three to four feet of mud and filled with sand with
dirt placed on top and left to settle while other parts of the road were constructed. A pile driver, using
an S-8 hammer, drove the Maunawili Stream Bridge piles at the rate of 26,000-foot pounds per blow,
with 55 blows a minute. Apparently, the sand drains did not perform as well as expected. On November
1, 1951, Harvey A.Jerome, in a letter to the editor of the Star-Bulletin, complained that one of the two
new Kailua bridges were under repair following a day and night of heavy rain.
In addition to the Kaneohe Ranch to Waimanalo junction project, the THD let a $371,221 contract to E.
E. Black for a four-lane highway between the Kailua-Waimanalo junction and the Kawainui Bridge in
Kailua, expediting Kailua residents'journeys to the base of the Pali. With the opening of the two projects
on September 3, 1951, Governor Oren E. Long declared the roadway, "the first step in the completion of
the road over the pali."62 He predicted it would encourage many more people to establish homes in
Kailua.
The opening of the new roadway increased windward residents' demands for the construction of the
new Pali Highway, as a bottleneck formed at the Kaneohe Ranch office where motorists had to merge
from two lanes to one. During the morning rush hour between 7 and 8 a.m., 914 automobiles crossed
the mountain, including 149 from Kaneohe which merged with the Kailua traffic, causing further delays.
Traffic counts revealed that during the course of a 24-hour day, 4,090 Honolulu-bound vehicles made
the ascent up and over the Pali. In an effort to reduce the bottleneck, a policeman was placed at the
bottom of the Pali Highway to direct the traffic coming from Kaneohe, and an older section of the Pali
Highway, which entered the existing road at the Halfway House, was closed to Kaneohe motorists during
rush hour. By September 1953 the steep, twisty, windy road was carrying over 11,000 vehicles a day, as
compared to about 7,700 in 1951, and 2,899 in 1938. By 1957 this number had climbed to 16,000.
According to federal standards, the existing road was considered adequate and safe to handle only
4,000 vehicles a day.
61 "New Highway to Kailua Will Have Four Lanes, Cost Million Dollars," Honolulu Advertiser, August 6,
1950.
62 "New Kailua Highway Opens for Traffic," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 3, 1951.
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Shortly after the opening of the new Kailua Highway, the Territorial DPW took the first step in its
incremental construction of the Pali Highway. Using federal aid moneys matched by the Territory of
Hawaii's vehicle fuel tax, the THD awarded contracts as money allowed, thereby not putting the
government in debt. The first contract, for$514,373, was awarded to Moses Akiona, who commenced
work in February 1952 on the stretch of road between the Kaneohe Ranch office and the old roadway's
hairpin turn. This new 1.4-mile section of road would have only three curves including a sweeping
horseshoe, as opposed to the existing 22. No bridges were in this section, but there was much cutting
and filling, with 560,000 cubic yards of excavation anticipated. Akiona's company dynamited and cut
through solid rock, graded down hillsides, and filled in deep canyons to develop a smooth roadway. The
cuts through the mountain were deep ones, with one going 150 feet deep into the hillside. To avoid
slides, three of the slopes were carved out in stepped terraces, a process known as benching. Delayed
by inclement weather, as well as proposed re-designs, this segment of the highway was not completed
until December 1953.
The second increment of the highway to be built was a one-mile segment of the four-lane highway from
Reservoir No. 4 through the Forest Reserve up to where a proposed tunnel would go through the
mountain under the Pali Lookout. In March 1954,J. M. Tanaka, under a $600,000 contract, commenced
construction on this fairly straightforward segment and completed construction in April 1955.
Several months after J.M. Tanaka completed Nuuanu Valley's mauka-most segment of the Pali Highway,
the THD, on June 22, 1955, awarded the company a second contract, for$1,979,059.90 to construct two
tunnels, measuring 22 feet high and 29 feet wide, with one running 1,000 feet in length under the Pali
Lookout and the other being a 500-foot bore through a ridge further toward Kailua. In addition, the
contract included a bridge to connect the two tunnels. These two tunnels were the first of four to be
built and were intended to carry town bound traffic up the Pali and into Nuuanu, thereby alleviating as
quickly as possible the steep grade for uphill travelers.The contract was the largest, up to that time,
ever awarded by the THD.
Planning for the tunnels had commenced several years prior, as in March 1953 the Territorial DPW
awarded a $21,900 contract to Samson &Smock to undertake substrata testing between the hairpin
turn and Reservoir No. 4 to determine the nature of the soil and rock through which the new highway
had to go. Using a water-cooled, diamond bit the firm drilled 33 holes to gather sufficient materials for
analysis, with most of the cores being on the windward portion of the route.
Approximately twenty months after a cave-in had claimed the lives of five men working on excavating
the future Likelike Highway's Wilson Tunnel,J.M. Tanaka started work on the Pali Tunnel project on
August 1, 1955. In light of the earlier tragedy, contractors bidding on the project had to complete a
twelve-page questionnaire to indicate their competency to do the job safely and well.
First an access road to the Kailua side portal of the smaller tunnel had to be cleared and graded. This
portal was chosen as the place to begin excavations as the only practical dumping area for excavated
materials was on this side. Work on the tunnels was further complicated by a ban on having primed
explosives transported to the site via the Pali Road. As a result, the dynamite was hauled up the face of
the mountain via an overhead conveyor from the valley below. Blasting started on the 500-foot Pali
tunnel on October 26, 1955. The tunnels were designed by Anatol Eremin, a civil engineer who worked
for the California State Department of Public Works. He authored Highway and Railroad Bridges with
Simple Continuous Spans(1956), and following the completion of the Pali tunnels, Tunnels, Underground
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Structures and Air Raid Shelters(1958). In addition, a number of engineers monitored the tunnel and its
progress. Bung Y. Hee was the contractor's engineer, and Charles Peterson was the contractor's tunnel
superintendent. Erwin F. Morrison was the Territory's chief tunnel engineer, and Charles Boerner served
as a tunnel advisor. Boerner administered the structural engineering branch of the Navy Public Works
office's Engineering Division and previously was the engineer in charge of the construction of the Navy's
underground fuel storage facility in Red Hill.
Three crews worked around the clock, advancing approximately forty feet a day. Following a routine of
detonating 75-pound dynamite packs and then clearing the debris with shovels the workers breached
the far side of this shorter tunnel on November 26, 1955. To build the tunnels, the "Top Heading"
method was used. First two "drifts," smaller tunnels dug within the intended tunnel, were bored. These
allowed the side walls of the tunnel to be built before the entire tunnel was dug out. Once both the
drifts breached the far side of the tunnel, concrete footings were poured, which formed the bases for
the tunnels barrel vaulted, steel arched ceiling. Working from an elevated platform mounted on a truck,
the workers next cut out the top portion of the tunnel and installed supports before finally removing the
central core of the tunnel. In the 1,000-foot-long tunnel, workers were confronted with solid rock for
the first 550 feet, before hitting softer dirt as they neared the leeward portal.
On May 22, 1956, workers digging from both sides of the longer tunnel, shook hands after shoveling
through the last few feet of dirt and rock. Work on the two tunnels, except for the asphalt paving of
their roadways was completed by December 13, 1956. Work then commenced on the second set of
tunnels, with break through occurring on June 18, 1958. The second set of tunnels was opened to traffic
on December 30, 1960. With their opening, the segment of the old road from the Pali Lookout down to
the Hairpin Turn was closed off and permanently abandoned, as two ridges on which it sat were cut
away.
While J. M. Tanaka was busy at work on the tunnels, a $323,688 contract was awarded to Oahu
Construction Company on March 1955 to build the segment of the Pali Highway between Country Club
Road to Carter's Corner, a distance of approximately a half mile. This work essentially widened the
present road from two to four lanes divided by a median strip. This rather straightforward segment was
completed on May 14, 1956. Another contract for the highway segment from Country Club Road down
to Laimi was let to J. M. Tanaka and was completed by July 25, 1957, and the segment between Laimi
and Coelho Lane went out to bid at that time.
At the end of 1955,J. M. Tanaka, who already held the$1,979,059 contract for the tunnel section, was
the low bidder, at$677,415.80, for the half mile, two-lane segment of the new highway from the hairpin
turn to the entry of the smaller tunnel. This segment included the excavating of over 30,000 cubic yards
of material with several small ridges blasted and bulldozed. In addition, a series of five bridges,
supported by poured in place, reinforced concrete piers, some as high as 77 feet, were constructed to
bring motorists up to the tunnel entrances. To pour the concrete, mixers had to stop on the existing Pali
Road, and from this vantage point pump the concrete down to fill the waiting forms. Looking up from
the Pali Golf Course, Gordon Morse declared, "the series of bridges curving up the side of the sheer Pali
look like something out of Walt Disney's Fairyland."63 Making the scene more impressive was his
knowing that every three feet of roadway carried by the bridges weighed two tons.
63 "Need for Pali Tunnel Cited Here Century Ago," Honolulu Advertiser, December 2, 1956.
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With the completion of the bridges, the windward side of the Pali Highway opened on May 11, 1957 and
was declared an "engineering masterpiece" by the newspaper Honolulu Advertiser because the new
route involved only two sweeping curves instead of the series of former turns.64 The same paper noted
earlier that motorists would be surprised to not have to shift into second to climb the grade, and they
would feel like they were "traveling a flat, straight city boulevard but with scenery and without
congestion."6s
Honolulu bound traffic cruised up the mountain, through the tunnels and into Nuuanu valley before
bottle necking at Reservoir No. 4. Windward bound traffic drove up Nuuanu valley over segments of two
and four lane road to the base of the Pali Lookout where drivers ascended up to the lookout and then
down the old road until it intersected the new near the horseshoe turn.
With the first pair of tunnels open and the second under construction, the THD turned its attention to
the segment of the new highway which ran from Country Club Road to Reservoir No. 4. Work had been
long delayed on this segment as the Territory became embroiled in a contentious legal battle with Lester
and Elizabeth Marks over the condemnation of 2.2 acres of their 17-acre estate. The case began in 1949
when the Territory filed a suit in Circuit Court to condemn the property with a condemnation price of
$12,000. The case made its way to the Territorial Supreme Court, was remanded to the lower courts and
again made its way to the Territorial Supreme Court. While the case still simmered in court, with both
sides intimating they intended to go beyond the Territorial Supreme Court, windward drivers agitated
for the construction of the new segment as it bypassed a section of their daily commute now known as
Nuuanu Pali Drive, which included Morgan's Corner, a dangerous bend in the road. Between December
1949 and June 1955, 187 accidents occurred on this two-mile stretch of road, with 66 injuries and two
deaths that both occurred at Morgan's Corner.
Consequently, the Territorial Attorney General authorized the Territorial DPW to negotiate with the
Marks for the entire 17-acre parcel. Finally in December 1956 an agreement was reached where the
Marks retained ten acres on the west side of the proposed highway, while the Territory purchased the
other seven acres, including the Marks' residence, for$624,750. The settlement opened the way for the
awarding of a $1,370,014 contract to James W. Glover for the important segment between Country Club
Road and Reservoir No. 4. This two-mile stretch of highway included 4,000 feet of two-level road, as
Kailua-bound motorists traveled about thirty feet below the parallel Honolulu-bound lanes. A relatively
new design concept for Hawaii, it served two purposes: economy by reducing the amount of excavating
on the upslope side of the valley, which alleviated the need for benching to reduce the chance of
landslides. The Highway Department also pointed out the advantage of this design to reduce driver
fatigue by not having to face on-coming headlights. This two-level highway concept previously had been
used on Kamehameha Highway between Kipapa and Wheeler Field, which was completed in 1950.
To handle the wet environment of this part of the valley, this new section of the Pali Highway included
eight-foot-wide drainage gutters of each side of the highway and required the construction of thirteen
box culverts under the highway to permit the water rushing off the Nuuanu cliffs to go its normal way
into run-off gullies. In addition, twenty catch basins were built. The largest box culvert was twelve feet
by ten feet and drained 240 acres Ewa of the highway. This segment of the highway was completed on
64"New Road Opens a New World," Honolulu Advertiser, May 11, 1957.
6s "Straightening the Hair Pin," Honolulu Advertiser, August 2, 1953.
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March 31, 1959. Two months later, on May 11, 1959, the Kailua-bound tunnels were opened to
travelers.
The final stretch of the Pali Highway to be completed was the segment which connected it to the
downtown area between Coelho Lane and the intersection of Bishop Street and Beretania Street.
Planning for this segment had begun as early as 1953, and at that time Nuuanu Avenue was slated to
become a one-way street into Honolulu. Bishop would be extended to connect with Fort Street at Kukui
Street, and Fort would become one way in a mauka direction up to Wylie. This preliminary proposal for
the Pali Highway's downtown connection underwent revisions, and when presented to the City and
County Planning Commission in 1955 for inclusion in the City and County's master plan, it was adopted.
In the final proposal Nuuanu Avenue was no longer to be widened as a connector, and instead Fort
Street was expanded into a four-lane roadway. Bishop Street became one-way moving in a makai
direction, while Alakea Street was made one way heading mauka. Fort Street merged with a new
highway segment above the Honpa Hongwanji.
The Honpa Hongwanji, whose property was bisected by the proposed new segment, requested three of
its buildings be relocated and a pedestrian underpass be constructed under the new highway to connect
the temple with its school premises. The new segment ran close to the lower slope of Pacific Heights
and crossed Nuuanu Stream via a bridge just above Kapena Falls. The project also included over-or
underpasses at Wyllie, Pauoa, and School streets, as well as a cloverleaf to allow Nuuanu Avenue traffic
to access the new highway just above Wyllie Street. Moses Akiona received the contract for the segment
of the highway between Kuakini Street and Wyllie Street and commenced construction.
In addition, a contract was awarded to Hawaiian Dredging &Construction on April 2, 1959, for
$3,034,000. This included the section of the Pali from Kuakini to Bishop and Beretania streets and also
included the Lunalilo Freeway between Nuuanu Stream and Pele Street. At the time of its issuance this
was the largest contract ever let by the THD. This segment included the Islands' first three level grade
separation, designed by Law&Wilson, to link the Pali with downtown and the Lunalilo Freeway. The
Lunalilo Freeway was to carry the bottom level of traffic, while the top level was an off ramp from the
Honolulu-bound lanes of the Pali Highway to the Kaimuki-bound lanes of the Lunalilo Freeway, with the
Pali Highway in the middle. It was estimated the new alignment into downtown would save the Territory
over two million dollars in rights-of-way expenses when compared with the initial proposal to expand
Nuuanu Avenue to Coelho Way.
With the completion of these final links, the Pali Highway officially opened on August 1st, 1961. Running
from the Kaneohe Ranch Office to Bishop and Beretania, the 7.9-mile highway allowed speeds up to 45
miles per hour, more than double the speed on the old road. The new, twenty-two-million-dollar
thoroughfare reduced the travel time between Kailua and Honolulu to approximately 15 minutes, as
compared to the 45-minute trip on the former road during the day and up to 90-minute commute
during morning or evening rush hours. When completed, the new highway was designed to carry 25,000
vehicles a day.
Following the opening of the new highway, several safety features made their first appearance in Hawaii
on the Pali Highway. In December 1962, a drapery of chain link fencing, designed by State Highways
Division engineer Herbert Tateishi, was hung above the Pali Highway on the cliff immediately below
Wyllie Street to prevent falling boulders and debris from bouncing onto the highway. The fencing hung
from a 110-foot-long, six-inch diameter pipe secured to the top of the cliff. Although used before on the
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
mainland, this was the first time it was employed in Hawaii. Another Hawaii first transpired in December
1966, when Jersey Barriers were installed by the Royal Contracting Company along the horseshoe turn
on the Pali Highway's windward side. Poured in place along the medial strip, the two and half foot high
barriers had curved sides to deflect wayward cars back into traffic.
IMPACTS OF THE HIGHWAY
While the new highway had a direct and positive impact on the commute time between the windward
side and downtown Honolulu, it also had many indirect impacts. A 1954 Honolulu Star-Bulletin article
foresaw the ramifications the proposed Pali Highway would have on the development of the windward
side of Oahu, especially Kailua and Kaneohe. The article observed, "Modern roads spur suburban living
because they convert commuting from drudgery into a relaxing interlude," and went on to foresee the
highway bringing to Honolulu's doorsteps suburbs a mountain range away.66 With the opening of the
first two tunnels, the newspaper referred to the two tunnels as the "Gateway to Tomorrow."67 It noted
that, as "impressive and welcome as this project is, it's still only a chapter in the impressive story of
Windward Oahu's development," and went on to predict, "IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING!"68
Indeed, it was only the beginning. Knowing the two new highways were forthcoming, Kaneohe Ranch,
which already had Aikahi Hillside under construction in 1957, began planning a 450-house subdivision
known as Kalaheo Hillside, 500 houses in Kapunahala, and 2,000 dwellings in the 750-acre Luluku
subdivision. Another 700 houses were slated to go up near the intersection of the new Waimanalo Road
and recently completed Kailua Road, the first major development between Kailua town and the base of
the Pali. In addition, Bishop Estate commenced planning a large subdivision on its lands in the Haiku
area and the Hawaiian Home Lands Commission started to open up lands in Waimanalo for residential
use. It was anticipated that by 1967 over 10,000 new homesites would be erected on Kaneohe Ranch
lands, which was very conceivable considering that during the four years between 1953 and 1957, the
company sold a house a day.
To accommodate the anticipated population growth, the Department of Public Instruction commenced
construction of a new Kailua High School in 1957 and planned to convert the existing high school into an
intermediate school. The Kaneohe Elementary School opened in 1956. The department also
programmed for three new elementary schools in Kailua, and King Intermediate School and Haiku
]Elementary School in Kaneohe. Also, district parks were constructed in both Kailua and Kaneohe, as
well as a number of small neighborhood playgrounds such as at Kaelepulu and Kalaheo. The Board of
Public Parks and Recreation also opened the 225-acre Pali Golf Course in 1956, which was designed by
Willard Wilkinson. Harold Castle donated half the land for the course, as he desired to preserve the
verdant character of the windward side from the Pali Lookout and upon descending from the new
highway.
Also, newer, better roadways were constructed to service the two trans-Koolau highways. The
Kamehameha Highway between the Pali intersection and Kaneohe Bay Drive, a distance of 2.4 miles,
was widened to four lanes, with work starting in 1957. Also, a new three-mile road between Waimanalo
66 "Breaking the Bottlenecks," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,January 30, 1954.
67 "$100 Million in Housing is Foreseen," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 10, 1957.
68 Ibid.
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and the Pali Highway intersection, now defined by Castle Hospital, was constructed, while the City and
County handled construction of the Kahekili Highway.
Other developments that emerged with the Pali and Likelike nearing completion included the seventy-
acre Hawaiian Memorial Park and the forty-bed Castle Memorial Hospital, operated by the Seventh Day
Adventist Church. Also, the Windward City Shopping Center at the intersection of the Likelike and
Kamehameha Highways joined the already-operating Kailua Shopping Center, which was completed in
mid-1954. The latter underwent a dramatic expansion in 1957, including a Times Supermarket. Foodland
had opened in Kailua in its own building in 1953.
Thus, the highway not only made the commute from the windward side of Oahu to Honolulu more
appealing to the existing motorists, but it also convinced others that the distance from town was not a
detriment to living in the country.
3.6: THE FEDERAL AID HIGHWAY SYSTEM AND INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM ON
OAHU, 1911-1953
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Federal Aid in the construction of a system of State and National highways was made available to all the
States in the continental United States in 1916. The Federal Aid Highway Act was developed in the 1930s
due to building pressure for the construction of transcontinental superhighways. A feasibility study of a
six-route toll network in 1938 showed insufficient transcontinental traffic to support a network of toll
superhighways.A Master Plan for Free Highway Development also recommended in this study a 43,000-
kilometer non-toll interregional highway network. On April 14, 1941, a National Interregional Highway
Committee was appointed by the president Franklin Delano Roosevelt to investigate the need for a
limited system of national highways. In 1943, a report, Interregional Highways, recommended an
interregional highway system of 63,000 km, designed to accommodate traffic 20 years from the date of
construction.
Disagreements in the highway community resulted in an inability to agree on the major changes needed
in the post-war era to address accumulated highway needs during the beginning of the Federal Aid
Highway Act of 1944. The Public Roads Administration (PRA), as the BPR was now called, began to work
with state and local officials and the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO)to develop
interstate plans and design standards for the interstate system, which were approved in 1945 that
address conditions such as traffic, populations density, topography, and other factors.
Even though the PRA announced the designation of the first 60,640 km of interstate highway in 1947,
construction of the interstate system moved slowly. Many States did not wish to divert Federal Aid
funds from local needs. Others complained that the standards were too high. By July 1950, the United
States was again at war in Korea and the focus of the highway program shifted from the civilian to
military needs. In 1953, the States had completed 10,327 km of system improvements at a cost of$955
million. Only 24 percent of interstate roadway was adequate for present traffic, which was still far from
meeting the traffic expectations for 20 years in the future.
At the end of the Korean War, the nation's highway problems again gained attention. With support from
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the financial funding problem for the interstate highway system was
resolved among the federal, state, and local governments by the passing of both the Federal Highway
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Act of 1956 and the Highway Revenue Act of 1956. The former called for uniform interstate design
standards to accommodate traffic forecasted for 1975 (modified in later legislation to traffic forecasted
in 20 years), and the latter provided increased tax and matching federal funds. BPR worked with AASHO
to develop minimum standards that would ensure uniformity of design, full control of access, and
elimination of highway and railroad-highway grade crossings. These acts resolved several more
controversial issues: $1.1 billion was distributed to the various States for the first year of"the greatest
public works program in the history of the world."69 Bertram D. Tallmy was chosen as the head of BPR,
with the newly authorized title "Federal Highway Administrator"to manage the program in 1957, so
construction of the interstate system was under way. The next 40 years would be filled with unexpected
engineering challenges, unanticipated controversies, and unforeseen funding difficulties. Nevertheless,
the president's view would prove correct. The interstate system, and the Federal-State partnership that
built it, changed the face of America.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Road construction, as a means of communication around the Hawaiian Islands, can be traced back to the
early kings and chiefs of the islands. It was said that there was a road around Maui which was about 138
miles long and from 3 to 5 feet wide. Most parts of this road were paved with hard beach stones passed
from hand to hand by men. Stones were laid crosswise from the support, not in a solid surface but in an
arrangement like the squares of a checkerboard. It is interesting to note that in 1890, under the
monarchy, a group of prominent citizens went so far as to volunteer the advancement of amounts
necessary to keep a particular highway project going, charging no interest, and trusting the legislature to
vote an appropriation.
The catalyst for the great increase in road building in Hawaii after 1920 had its origin in 1924 when the
provisions of the Federal Highways Act were extended to the Territory(now the State) of Hawaii by an
act of congress in 1924. Since 1926, when the present Federal Aid program was launched in Hawaii, the
THD had completed 518.91 miles of highways on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Molokai and Kauai
and had maintained these sections. A Federal Aid Highway System upon which projects could be
initiated to receive Federal Aid was laid out, consisting of a total length of allowable new construction of
213 miles, of which 118 miles were located on Oahu.
In 1931 and 1932, Congress made emergency appropriations, which resulted in allotments totaling one
million dollars to the Territory. This money was to be used to relieve Depression-era unemployment
with construction jobs and used in lieu of funds which states typically provided as their portion of the
cost of Federal Aid projects. It created an $880,000 Hawaii Special Fund to take the Federal Aid System
within the Territory in 1931. This system was selected by the Governor of Hawaii, and agreed upon by
the Secretary of Agriculture, on November 18, 1931, and allowed for the construction of new roads
totaling 532 miles in length.
Hawaii had accelerated the speed of other highway constructions since the 1940s with the increasing
traffic problem and the national defense need. Highway construction in Hawaii experienced a slow start
at the end of the World War II because of material and special engineers' shortages and high costs.
President Truman pointed out, "By any reasonable standard, our highways are inadequate for today's
demands. Future demands will inevitably be greater as business traffic continues to expand, as our
69 "US Prods Hawaii to Speed Road, Highway Work," Honolulu Advertiser, November 14, 1949.
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population grows, and as we build roads to reach needed resources now relatively inaccessible."70 The
highway expansion and improvement program was proposed during the late 1940s for the
reconstruction, rehabilitation and extension of highways, which would not only provide increased road
safety and economic use for motor vehicles, but also ensure the adequacy of roads to serve in time of
peace or war.
During the 1950s and 1960s there was a shortage of highways in Hawaii due to the increasing use of
motor vehicles and the expanding tourism industry of the islands. Between 1950 and 1958 there was a
36 percent increase in motor-fuel consumption in the State of Hawaii. This average of 4 percent a year
was almost the same as the continental increase. The total road mileage in the State of Hawaii had
already reached 3,137 miles by January 1958. The island of Hawaii had the most highway mileage of any
of the islands and it is also the largest. Most of the mileage of city streets was found on the island of
Oahu and in the city of Honolulu. The annual travel on all roads and streets in Hawaii was estimated to
be 1,707 million vehicle-miles during 1950-1958. This is based primarily on registration and motor-fuel
consumption data. This would amount to an average daily traffic of about 1,530 vehicles on all roads
and streets in Hawaii. This compared with similar volumes at the time recorded on all roads and streets
of 1,570 vehicles in Connecticut, 1,200 in Delaware, 2,030 in Rhode Island, and an average of 523 for the
entire United States.
3.7: MILITARY CONTRIBUTION TO ROAD AND HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION IN
HAWAII, 1959-1970S
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Defense activity played a relatively minor role in Hawaii during the first thirty-five years of Territorial
status (1900-1935). Hawaii became a Territory of the United States in 1898, when the world was at
peace. Only a "token defense force" was considered necessary in Hawaii at that time. World War I was
centered in Europe and also had little effect on the military population in Hawaii.
In 1931, a political shift in Japan from a relatively liberal to a militaristic government was followed by a
rapid build-up of Japanese forces. Concerns about the intentions of Japan caused a gradual increase in
military forces allocated to Hawaii. After Japan's attack on China in July 1937, American defense activity
in the Pacific rose sharply, with Hawaii as a focal point. During the prewar defense program of 1939-
1941, federal expenditures in Hawaii steadily rose. By 1941, the military establishment had become the
largest employer of civilian workers in the Territory. Following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl
Harbor, President Roosevelt declared martial law, the military government regulated activity throughout
Hawaii. Armed forces were concentrated in the island of Oahu with major installations at Pearl Harbor,
Barber's Point, Schofield Barracks, and Kaneohe.
With the commencement of World War II, all construction, including highway construction, was
restricted to only that which would materially aid National Defense as stated in General Administration
Memo No. 148 from the Washington Office of the Public Roads Administration. The military authorities
70 Harry S. Truman, "Special Message to the Congress on Highway Construction," (February 9, 1948), in
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States:Harry S. Truman, Containing the Public Messages,
Speeches and Statements of the President,January 1 to December 31, 1948(Washington, DC: United
States Government Printing Office, 1964), 133.
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approved all Federal Aid highways constructed by the THD as strategic. In some cases, they insisted that
roads be built which were of doubtful value to the civilian population but of great value to the Army,
such as the Kunia Road from Schofield to Waipahu.
During World War II (1941-1945), defense activities totally dominated the economic life of the islands
and profoundly affected social and political life. Tourists and many unemployed residents were
evacuated from the islands. Total employment rates rose sharply, with a large percentage of islanders
entering the work force for patriotic reasons. War stimulated trade, construction, and income
throughout Hawaii due to the extraordinary increase in defense construction and purchases and
demands of servicemen on the islands. Military activity in the Territory remained at high levels until the
end of 1946 because of Hawaii's role in demobilization and in the disposal of war surpluses.
During this period, many men who formerly worked for the road department changed their positions in
working for the army on vital defense projects. Meanwhile, most federal road aid funds went to the War
Department for use on roads of military value in Hawaii. All requests for road construction in Hawaii,
except those initiated by the Navy, had to be approved by the Commanding General, Army Forces
Middle Pacific(previously Pacific Ocean Areas, Central Pacific Area, and Hawaiian Department) before
construction was approved and funds allocated for the work by the Federal Works Agency.
The period 1947-50 was one of repeated cutbacks. The defense expenditures in Hawaii declined from
$224 million in 1946 to $148 million in 1950. The war that started in South Korea on June 25, 1950, had
immediate repercussions in Hawaii. 1950 began with a depression and unemployment crisis and ended
with a rapid rise in income and employment which ushered in the boom years of 1951-1952. The Hawaii
military establishments for the national defense system were increased due to the Korean War. A total
of$1,785,500 was spent in the islands' military construction projects in 1950. In 1951 another$20
million was given to Territory of Hawaii Military. In the early 1950s, the Army decided that a cross-island
road was imperative to the defense of Hawaii.
Even after the cessation of military activities in Korea, defense activity in Hawaii continued to rise, due
to escalating tensions in the Pacific area. Delegate Farrington's weekly"Report to The People"from
Washington declared in 1950 that"recent events have shown that Hawaii is the proper place to build
permanent military strength in the Pacific," and that "The life of Hawaii needs to be closely integrated
with that of States, in every way, politically as well as economically and culturally. This will all add to our
military strength. And this is what the country needs today—and quickly."71
For defense in the Pacific, the military establishment maintained in Hawaii a vast system of facilities,
service bases and command posts. Defense expenditures increased from $148 million in 1950 to $271
million in 1953. In 1954, Gen. Mark W. Clark urged to create a Pacific defense organization to help
maintain those free countries in the Pacific independence against Communist encroachment. As part of
President Eisenhower's military"new look" in Asia, Hawaii was headed for an even bigger role in the
Pacific defense program. By 1955, defense continued to be the largest source of island income and the
greatest employer of Hawaiian manpower. These defense activities had a direct impact on the road and
highway construction activities of the islands.
71 "Effect of Korean War, Farrington Sees Build-Up Here of Defenses for the Pacific," Honolulu Star-
Bulletin, August 4, 1950.
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The National System of Interstate and Defense Highways was designated by the Federal Aid Highway Act
in 1944 to primarily serve national defense. The act originally included only the continental United
States. States received Federal Aid for highway construction if the projects were regarded as vital to
national defense. Hawaii was not eligible for this aid and the convention of the Western Association of
State Highway officials refused to pass a resolution that Hawaii be included in the interstate highway
system, even though the War Department designated all of Oahu's principal highways as "Strategic" in
1941.72 The Pacific military command promised support to help pass a resolution. The Defense
Department also thought that including Hawaii in the system would greatly influence public perception
of the National Defense System.
In 1959, Congress authorized Hawaii's admission to Statehood and plans were underway to remove the
48-State limitation on the Interstate system. This system was extended to the State of Hawaii on July 12,
1960, with the passage of Hawaii Omnibus Bill, Public Law 86-624. The Act provided Hawaii with an
initial apportionment of Federal Interstate Highway fund for the 1961-62 fiscal years in the amount of
$12,375,000. It also provided that subsequent apportionments to Hawaii be based on estimated cost of
completing the system in Hawaii as compared to the estimated cost of completing the system in all
States.
Responding to urgent national defense needs in the 1960s, the Territory of Hawaii accumulated highway
deficiencies of$50,000,000 which was ten times the annual construction budget. Highways were being
developed at a faster rate than the THD could meet. Seeking additional federal aid was seen as a way to
reduce time and money loss, and the destruction of lives and property as a result of inadequate roads
and streets.John C. Myatt, the first deputy Territorial Highway Engineer said, "If Hawaii were admitted
into the interstate system, $1,100,000 on annually would be available for'strategic highway'
construction on a 60 federal-40 local matching basis, increasing the Territory's highway construction
funds by$1,800,000 a year... It would also put us in line to share in President Eisenhower's proposed 50-
billion-dollar defense highway construction program, if Congress makes it into law."73
Compared to the large, flexible construction industry on the mainland, the construction field in Hawaii is
small and less varied. In addition, Hawaii is also isolated from the mainland and is subdivided by islands.
For these reasons, the impact of defense and military establishment on the road construction in Hawaii
over the past several decades has been more vital and direct than on any other activity in the Territory.
The Corps of Engineers, in the United States Army, under assignment by Congress, is charged with the
public civil works program to control, regulate, and improve river and harbor resources and to plan and
construct flood control works. In addition to civil projects, the Corps is also engaged in extensive
construction programs for the United States Army and Air Force. When local interests are unable to
resolve a situation, local authorities can petition their representatives in Congress for assistance. If the
representatives consider the petition favorably, they can direct the Corps of Engineers to investigate the
feasibility and economics of correcting the situation.
Before the Corps of Engineers became involved in the development of the defense activities in the
Hawaiian Islands, the Honolulu Engineer District had been in operation for approximately 45 years.
72 D.F. Balch, Comparative Report:Nuuanu Valley Tunnel Route vs. Kalihi Valley Tunnel Route(Honolulu:
Territorial Highway Department, 1943).
73 "Military Backing May Get Federal Aid for T. H. Roads," Honolulu Advertiser, October 23, 1954.
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While some minor improvement work and surveys were accomplished under the direction of Corps of
Engineers as early as 1899 in connection with the improvement of Pearl Harbor, the District office was
set up in Honolulu on 14 April 1905 under the direction of Lieutenant John R. Slattery.
District Engineers executed fortification and other military works under the direction of military
commanders as prescribed in army regulations or other War Department instructions. On July 1, 1940,
the hostilities with Japan became one of great activities for the Honolulu Engineer District in the
initiation of and planning of vast and ever-expanding preparations for an emergency. During this period,
the construction activities of the Quartermaster Corps were transferred to the Corps of Engineers. In
1942, all engineer troops and military engineering came under the jurisdiction of the Department
Engineer. On March 16, 1942, the Commanding General, Hawaiian Department, was granted "complete
jurisdiction over, and responsibility for military construction activities in the Hawaiian Department,
including administration of existing construction contracts."74
The United States Army constructed approximately 240 miles of roads in the Territory of Hawaii during
World War II as well as helped the road maintenance and repair during wartime. Due to the labor and
material shortages, these roads had not been properly maintained by the city and county. In addition to
the army's heavy wartime traffic(these highways and streets were mainly used for military vehicles and
heavy trucks engaged in transportation for the army or navy), the military and naval authorities
provided financial assistance to cover the cost of road maintenance and reconstruction work to put the
highways of the islands in good condition. Today many of these roads are available for civilian use and
several have been turned over to the Territory. These highways were built to afford easy access to
military reservations because the Army thought that a cross-island road was imperative to the defense
of Hawaii in early 1942.
INTERSTATE ROUTE H-1 IN HONOLULU
The H-1 is the primary and most congested freeway along the south shore of the island of Oahu. It was
authorized as part of the Statehood Act of 1960 and is one of three Interstate and Defense Highways in
Hawaii to be funded by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration. The
Interstate-Defense Highway System for Oahu was approved in principle as part of the Statehood Act
consisting of the H-1, H-2, and H-3 freeways.
The first section of H-1 in the Mauka Arterial was opened in 1953 near University Avenue. In 1959 at
Statehood, part of the Lunalilo Freeway was opened between Punahou Street and King Street. After
1960, it extended both west and east along the south shore until the completion of H-1 in 1986. In 1967,
H-1 first appeared on maps, cosigned as Hawaii State Route 72.
BRIDGES IN THE HIGHWAY SYSTEM
From a functional standpoint, bridges are part of a seamless national highway surface transportation
system. The highway engineering community uses several terms to describe what are commonly called
"bridges," such as overpass, separation, and ramp. The bridges to highway miles vary greatly within the
various states and are influenced by topography and population. Their boom in the 1950s and 1960s are
74 US Army Corps of Engineers, Water Resources Development by the Corps of Engineers in the Hawaiian
Islands(Honolulu: n.p., 1959), 4.
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all due to traffic relief efforts and a Cold War defense initiative to move troops and material rapidly
across the country in the national interstate highway system that started in the 1950s.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a series of disastrous vehicular bridge collapses occurred, causing
loss of life throughout the United States. The nation began to focus attention on the decaying state of
the civil infrastructure in general, and on the nation's bridges in particular. In 1970 Congress established
a special Federal Aid program to provide up to three-fourths of the funds needed to help meet state
bridge renewal needs. The initial funds from the Special Bridge Replacement Program became available
in late 1972. The Surface Transportation Act of 1978 extended and expanded the Special Bridge
Replacement Program, becoming what is now known as the Highway Bridge Replacement and
Rehabilitation Program.At the time, $4.2 billion was appropriated from 1979 through 1982 for bridge
replacement and rehabilitation.
H-1, when initially conceived, was known as the mauka arterial.A tentative route was laid out by
Honolulu's planning engineer, Charles Welsh in 1940-41, which was included in the City and County's
first master plan of December 1944. The arterial was to take the form of a divided highway, "with all
grade-crossings eliminated" and no left turns allowed. Also, pedestrians were not permitted on the
highway, thus eliminating the need for pedestrian crossings, and there would be no utility poles other
than the tall standards supporting mercury vapor streetlamps.
As laid out by Jack Myatt of the Territorial DPW, the proposed seven-mile highway was to run between
Middle Street and Old Waialae Road, and the entire project was expected to take fifteen to twenty years
to complete. Grade separation structures (under-or overpasses, i.e., bridges) eliminated intersections
and thus allowed traffic to flow unimpeded by traffic lights.
In August 1952, the Territorial DPW awarded the contract for the first phase of the highway, between
Old Waialae Road and Isenberg Street, to J. N. Tanaka, and in November 1953 awarded the company a
second contract for the section of road between Isenberg and Alexander streets. The mauka arterial was
the most expensive construction project up to that time in Hawaii, costing$2 million a year(forty
percent of the Territory's budget for road construction), with about one third of the costs expended on
land acquisition.
The three Ewa bound lanes of the first one-mile segment of the mauka arterial opened on November 9,
1953. The new highway segment immediately reduced the previous morning rush hour congestion
around King Street and University Avenue. The Honolulu Advertiser explained, "A major feature of the
new arterial is an overpass spanning University Avenue,'75 and labeled the overpass "an 'air lift' answer
to one of the city's worst traffic snarls."76 The University Avenue part of the expressway also included
the Islands' first on and off ramps allowing Manoa motorists to enter or exit the arterial. The utilization
of a bridge to traverse University Avenue was very much a novelty for the people of Oahu, as at the time
the Puowaina Bridge was the only bridge on the island to span another road. In addition to the
University Avenue bridge, this section of the new highway also included the Palolo-Manoa bridge, which
was completed in August 1953. In addition, in July 1956 a pedestrian bridge was opened at Isenberg
75 "Mayor Asks Chamber Ban Pali Route," Honolulu Advertiser, November 3, 1953.
76 Honolulu Advertiser,June 26, 1955, A10.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Street to allow pedestrians safe passage over the arterial, one of the earliest structures in the islands
erected for this purpose.
The Kaimuki bound lanes between Old Waialae Road and Alexander Street did not open until January 5,
1954, as they needed to await the completion of an overpass which carried Old Waialae Road over a
two-lane ramp taking traffic from the arterial to King Street. In April 1955 the half mile second segment
of the highway, between Alexander and Keeaumoku, was opened to traffic, five months ahead of
schedule. This segment included a bridge to allow Punahou Street to pass over the expressway. In
addition, the bridge carrying McCully Street over the new freeway was completed in July 1956, and in
September 1960 the Keeaumoku Street Bridge was completed, in anticipation of the freeway's eventual
extension towards downtown.
At the dedication of this segment of the highway, Honolulu Chamber of Commerce President Gilbert W.
Root recalled that earlier the community debated whether the mauka arterial was needed, but now it
was plain that it was, and the only question which remained was "how fast can we finish the job?""
Progress on the new highway was bolstered in 1954, when an additional $700,000 in federal highway
funds was appropriated for Hawaii in 1954, thanks to President Eisenhower's desire to expand America's
highway system. To match the new federal dollars and to have funds to pay back highway bonds
Hawaii's gasoline tax was raised from four cents to five, commencing July 1, 1955. Also in July 1955, the
Territorial DPW renamed the mauka arterial as the Lunalilo Freeway, in honor of the former monarch,
following the suggestion of LeRoy C. Bush, the president of Honolulu Construction & Draying Company.
The advent of statehood in 1959 led to the expansion of the Lunalilo Freeway and its incorporation into
the H-1 Interstate Highway.
Also, by 1958 planning began on the Ewa terminus of the Lunalilo Freeway. Here, the firms of Belt
Collins &Associates and Moffatt, Nichol &Taylor proposed a "three-level grade separation structure"; in
other words, a double overpass with Middle Street as the upper most deck and an exit leading to
Kamehameha Highway from the middle deck, both of which would bridge the Lunalilo Freeway as it
continued straight ahead to merge with Moanalua Road. In addition, a ramp coming from Kamehameha
Highway would tunnel under King Street to join the eastbound lanes of the freeway. In the following
year, 1959, construction got underway on the interchange between the Lunalilo Freeway and the Pali
Highway. Designed by Law&Wilson, this would become the first three level grade separation structure
to be completed in Hawaii. The Middle Street separation was completed in 1964.
The section between Kalihi and Houghtailing streets, which commenced construction in December 1958,
was completed in September 1960. The segment between Nuuanu Stream and Pele Street got underway
in June 1959 and was finished in May 1962. In November 1960, ground was broken on the half mile
between Middle Street and Pinkham Street, which was finished in April 1964. In late 1963,James W.
Glover Ltd. was awarded the construction contract for the 1.3-mile section of the Lunalilo Freeway
between Nuuanu Stream and Houghtailing Street, which when completed in 1966, allowed the opening
of the highway between Kalihi Stream and the Pali Highway. This segment included six major bridges or
overpasses:the Houghtailing Street underpass, Kapalama Canal Bridge, Palama Street underpass, Liliha
Street overpass, Stillman Lane/Aala Street extension overpass, and Nuuanu Stream Bridge. Glover's low
"Honolulu Advertiser, April 1st, 1955, 1.
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bid of$6,060,326.50, made his contract the largest single construction contract awarded by the State of
Hawaii. The previous high contract was$5,136,916 for a unit of the Honolulu International Airport.
In addition to working on the segments of the highway from Middle Street to town, work also started on
a newly conceived segment of the Lunalilo Freeway, which would run through Kaimuki and connect with
Kalanianaole Highway. Underpasses were planned for 6th Avenue, 7th Avenue, Koko Head Avenue, and
16th Avenue, while 10th Avenue would run under the highway. Also, pedestrian bridges were proposed at
2nd 4th and 14th Avenues. In June 1963, the contract for the mile-long portion of the H-1 between First
Avenue and Koko Head Avenue was awarded to Kaiser Company. Completed in June 1965, the one-mile
highway deposited commuters to downtown at the Kapahulu-Kapiolani-King Street area, which
remained a traffic bottleneck until the completion of Kapiolani Boulevard. Hawaiian Dredging and
Construction commenced construction of this important bridge link in September 1965 and completed
their work in May 1967. Also, in September 1965 Moses Akiona started work on the next increment of
the H-1 from Koko Head Avenue to 17th Avenue, with an underpass at 16th Avenue.
In town, the highway segment between the Pali Highway and Pele Street was completed in October
1966, and included the Queen Emma Street overpass, as well as Structure Number 8 Grade Separation,
which extended Punchbowl Street to run under the freeway as a westbound entry ramp to the Lunalilo
Freeway. In September 1967, Gordon Hall Enterprises started work on the final segment of the Lunalilo
Highway between Victoria and Keeaumoku streets. This section included a 30-foot high, fifth of a mile
long Makiki viaduct between Ernest and Kewalo streets, which was designed in-house by Donald
Ornellas, Melvin Tamashiro and Vernon Ching. It bridged both Piikoi and Pensacola streets, while the
freeway went under both Ward Avenue and Keeaumoku Street. Originally, this segment of the freeway
was to be at or below grade, but the HDOT decided to elevate it instead in order to avoid serious
drainage problems, save time, and because it penciled out one million dollars less than the below grade
alternative. With the opening of the Lunalilo Freeway, the journey from Kaimuki to Kalihi took ten
minutes, while before the building of the highway such a cross-town trek normally required thirty
minutes or more during peak traffic times.
Bids for completing the eastern end of the H-1 from 21sT Avenue to Ainakoa Avenue were delayed until
August 1967, when Hawaiian Dredging and Construction was awarded the contract for this segment,
which included the raised, 2,160 feet long, six-lane Waialae viaduct that was not completed until
November 1969. An even longer viaduct at Pearl City was over one mile long, and when completed in
March 1970, the eight-lane wide and 6,000 feet long Pearl City viaduct was the longest viaduct ever built
in Hawaii up to that time. The western side of the H-1 became fully functional in 1974 with the widening
of Moanalua Road between Red Hill and Halawa, allowing drivers to travel from the Waialae viaduct at
Kaimuki to the Palailai Interchange near Campbell Industrial Park without having to stop for any traffic
lights, greatly expediting travel times. Such freeway driving was all made possible thanks to the use of
bridges as overpasses, underpasses, and viaducts.
3.8: STANDARDIZATION, ADDITIONAL INTERSTATES, AND PRESERVATION (1968-
1987)
SUBURBAN GROWTH AND BRIDGE STANDARDIZATION
Following World War II, Oahu continued to be the archipelago's major population and economic center
and experienced a boom in construction not seen on the neighbor islands. According to census records,
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Oahu and Honolulu's population experienced the largest population growth between 1940 and 1960
while neighbor islands experienced population decline during the same time period. Between 1960 and
1980, Oahu's growth slowed but still lead all the islands while the other islands began to see modest
growth rates return. Because of this, the majority of construction—road, urban, suburban, etc.—
centered on Oahu.'$ Former plantation lands and agricultural landholdings became residential
communities as landowners sold of properties to residential developers.79 Between Pearl City and
Diamond Head, Oahu saw much construction and densification of existing land.80 The Bank of Hawaii
observed in 1960 that Oahu contained over 80%of the State's population contained in less than 10% of
its land, with nearly 60% in or near Honolulu. The postwar trend of suburbanization, automobile
ownership, suburban shopping centers, and new roadways all played out in Oahu with new suburban
centers in Kaneohe-Kailua-Lanikai on windward Oahu, Wahiawa near Schofield Barracks, as well as
Waipahu and Ewa. Further plans for suburban development were at Barber's Point, Waianae,
Waimanalo, Kahuku, and Wailua.81
Because of these trends, the majority of post-1945 bridges and the entirety of Interstate Highway
bridges are to be found on Oahu. Information provided by HDOT and FHWA indicate that between 1968
and 1977, 106 bridges were built on Oahu as compared to 28 on Hawaii, 10 in Maui, and one on Kauai.
In addition to Oahu experiencing the most bridge and road construction, bridge design became
increasingly standardized. As a result, concrete and steel bridges and culverts built after 1945 fall under
Program Comment, a 2012 decision made by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) at the
request of the FHWA that would eliminate individual historic review requirements under Section 106 of
the National Historic Preservation Act. Bridges built after 1945 fall under Program Comment due to their
standardized nature, inclusion into the Interstate Highway system, and different criteria used to
evaluate their NRHP status. This program comment applies to the following types of bridges—reinforced
concrete slabs bridges, reinforced concrete bream and girder bridges, multi-beam bridges, and
culverts/reinforced concrete boxes.
A review of Program Comment requirements has led to a review of post-1945 bridges and culverts
determined eligible by the 2013 SHBIE. This survey determined a substantial number of culverts
constructed after 1945 to be eligible due to their use of lava rock construction for otherwise standard
construction of the era. Historically, while lava rock construction in Hawaii is a notable use of local
materials in building, in the context of roads, the territory and later state was an early adapter of
78 Fung Associates, Inc., Hawaii Modernism Context Study, November 2011, 2-4; "An Introduction to
Hawaii—the 50th State," The Labor Market and Employment Security, United States Department of
Labor, May 1959, 4; Dore Minatodani, "Hawai'i -Censuses: Historical Censuses," University of Hawaii at
Manoa Library, Hawaiian Collection, accessed April 5, 2023,
https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=105181&p=684171; Bank of Hawaii, "Summary,"
Review of Business and Economic Conditions 5, no. 6 (June 1960): 2, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009388905.
79 Fung Associates, Inc., Hawaii Modernism Context Study, November 2011, 4-67, B-18.
80 Architects Hawaii, Ltd., Lemmon, Freeth, Haines, [and]Jones:Mid-Century Context Study(1948-1962),
September 2018, 3.
81 Bank of Hawaii, Department of Business Research, Hawaii: The First Year of Statehood, 1960 Mid-Year
Report on Business Conditions, Urban Development, Growth Patterns, Economic Potentials(n.p., n.d.),
22, 37, 42, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000552774.
41II
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
reinforced concrete construction. The THD quickly abandoned CRM construction in the first decades of
the twentieth century, though CRM made a reappearance during the Great Depression.82 A notable CRM
bridge example is the NRHP-listed Waiale Bridge where the massing and volume of CRM makes it a
notable example as well as its steel-stringer structure. In contrast, steel pipe culverts on Volcano Road
are of standard construction and the use of lava rock is decorative rather than integral.
COMPLETING INTERSTATE ROUTE H-1 (1969-1986)
The H-1 was completed and opened on May 3, 1986.83 The Honolulu portion of Interstate Route H-1 was
also known as the Lunalilo Freeway and went from King and Middle Streets to the Waialae Viaduct over
8.2 miles, was constructed between 1952 and 1969 and described in section 2.8.84 A second section
Palailai and Aiea, was constructed between 1966 and 1970. This portion of Interstate Route H-1 shows
the linkages between highway construction and suburbanization. H-1's alignment followed a more
inland route than the Oahu Railway and Land Company(OR&L) and Kamehameha and Farrington
Highways. The railroad and later roadways allowed for plantations and towns to be established along
with a quick route into Honolulu and were the seeds of post-World War II suburbanization. By 1970, the
Halawa to Palailai Interchange section had been completed and the Lunalilo Freeway, too, though they
remained unconnected. The gap between Halawa to Middle Street would be complex as a a five-mile
long, eight lane highway with complex interchanges at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu International Airport, and
Keehi was anticipated.85 Construction on this section began in April 1975 and was largely complete by
1984 with a short gap that would be filled in when H-1 was completed end to end in 1986.86 The final
portion of H-1 opened in May 1986 and the total cost of the entire highway was reported as over$506
million.87
8z Alvarez, Historic Bridge Inventory:Hawaii, 72-73; Barbara Shideler and Ann Yoklavich, "Wai`ale Drive
Bridge, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form," (U.S. National Park Service, U.S.
Department of the Interior, 1996) 8-1, retrieved from https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63816026.
83 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, 1987 Report to the Governor(n.p., n.d.), 6,
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010623628.
84 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1970(n.p., n.d.), 39, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
85 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.), 45, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436; State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation,
Highways Division, Interstate Route H-1, Palailai to Ainakoa, May 1972, accessed April 26, 2023,
https://evols.l i bra ry.ma noa.hawa i i.ed u/items/f9f64a 18-3e8c-4c53-b85d-b73992744df1.
86 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Nineteen Seventy Five Fiscal Year(n.p., n.d.), 44,
retrieved from; https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436; State of Hawaii, Department of
Transportation, Highways Division, Planning Branch, Interstate Route H-1, Palailai to Ainakoa[and]
Interstate Route H-2, Waiawa to Wahiawa, October 1984, accessed April 26, 2023,
https://evols.l i bra ry.ma noa.hawa i i.ed u/items/588d9876-1c87-4eeb-bf7a-f718d9490e70.
87 "National Interstate Day," The Honolulu Advertiser, May 30, 1986, accessed December 12, 2024,
https://www.newspapers.com/image/263174154/. The precise cost was reported as$506,118,659.
o� 88
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
INTERSTATE ROUTE H-1
' '/4., ''''.-.7" AV -''- '-'4\ 1 I ..'"=',P4 .=,.......,
:::';' .:'r \ \ I I r A OWE COURTEOUSLY 1,,,,,, .,..,,,
"i/h rd / N'� ..
.,',1,.., ', .1 ,,,,r ._
. . _ ... .
, .
._ ..... _...
17„__.,..„, .,,i,..„.J -,...,
. S
FIGURE 21-INTERSTATE ROUTE H-1 IN 1984.SOURCE:STATE OF HAWAII, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION,
HIGHWAYS DIVISION,INTERSTATE ROUTE H-1,PALAILAI TO AINAKOA,OCTOBER 1984,
HTTPS://EVOLS.LIBRARY.MANOA.HAWAII.EDU/ITEMS/588D9876-1C87-4EEB-BF7A-F718D9490E70.
Until the completion of this last section, the Moanalua Freeway(present-day H-201) acted as the
primary connection between the finished portions of H-1 between Aiea to Kalihi and was widened and
rebuilt to freeway standards between 1971 and 1974.88
� MOANALUA FREEWAY
aE. ee.
FIGURE 22- MOANALUA FREEWAY(FUTURE INTERSTATE ROUTE H-201).SOURCE:STATE OF HAWAII, DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION, HIGHWAYS DIVISION,PLANNING BRANCH,MOANALUA FREEWAY,AIEA TO MIDDLE STREET,
OCTOBER 1984,HTTPS://EVOLS.LIBRARY.MANOA.HAWAII.EDU/ITEMS/588D9876-1C87-4EEB-BF7A-F718D9490E70.
88 JHK and Associates, Evaluation of the Moanalua Freeway Carpool/Bus Bypass Lane, Report no. FHWA-
RD-77-99 (August 1977) 8, 14, 17, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010631829.
.A..0,...,
89
r
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
"FORGOTTEN FREEWAY": INTERSTATE ROUTE H-2 (1970-1977)
While initially excluded from the Interstate Highway System due to a limitation that restricted the
network exclusively to the continental United States, Section 17 of the Hawaii Omnibus Act of 1960 (PL
86-624) allowed for three interstate routes to be planned for the island of Oahu.89 A study undertaken
by the Bureau of Public Roads and in cooperation with the State of Hawaii and the Department of
Defense, recommended a 50-mile road network and three Interstate Highway Routes.90 This series of
freeways would connect Honolulu with Barber's Point, Schofield Barracks, and Kaneohe Marine Corps
Air Station.91 Interstate H-1, the longest highway at 27 miles, connected Barber's Point Access Road with
Ainakoa Avenue via urban Honolulu. Interstate H-2, at eight miles in length, would connect Waiawa to
Wahiawa [and the Shoefield Barracks], and Intestate H-3 would be a 15-mile route connecting Halawa to
the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station.92 The Highways Branch later recalculated these figures to a 51.9-
mile network with H-1 at 27.5 miles, H-2 at 8.5, and H-3 at 15.9 miles for a total cost of an estimated
$650 million and an anticipated completion date by 1976.93
In 1969, right-of-way acquisitions began for H-2 and construction of a 2.7-mile segment between
Waiawa Interchange and Waiahole Ditch began by November 1970.94 Construction of H-2 continued
between Waikakalaua and Kipapa Gulches beginning in 1973.95 The two-mile section between the
Waiawa Interchange with H-1 and Mililani Memorial Park opened on October 3, 1974, commemorated
with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by State Transportation Director E. Alvey Wright.'The 1974 Annual
Report to the Governor boasted that H-2 was 94% complete or under construction since construction of
the Interstate Highway System on Oahu began a decade prior in 1964.97 H-2 opened in its entirety in
89 U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration,America's Highways, 1776-1976:
A History of the Federal-Aid Program (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977), 477.
90 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Public Roads, Report on Extension of National System of
Interstate and Defense Highways with Alaska and Hawaii required by Section 105 of the Federal-aid
Highway Act of 1959, January 1960, 29; Report on the Status of the Federal-Aid Highway Program,
Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Roads of the Committee on Public Works, 91'Cong., 2d. sess., April
15, 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970), 82, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008515050.
91 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, Hawaii State Highways Annual
Report, 1960(n.p., n.d), cover letter n.p., retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002134890.
92 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30[1967](Honolulu: n.d.), 32,
retrieved from. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015023939500&view=1up&seq=250.
93 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.), 45, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
94 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1969(n.p., n.d.), 42, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436; State of Hawaii DOT, Year Ending June 30, 1971,
45, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
95 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1973 (n.p., n.d), 50, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
96 "Ribbon Cutting on H-2," Honolulu Advertiser, October 4, 1974.
97 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation,Annual Report:Fiscal Year 1974(n.p., n.d.), 1,
retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
o� 90
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
1977, making it the "first Interstate in Hawaii to fully become operational over its entire length."98 The
final cost of H-2 was reported at$43.9 million.99
While H-3 encountered much controversy in its planning, to be discussed in the next section, the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin &Advertiser described H-2 as a "forgotten freeway" whose construction
proceeded without comment or controversy. When taking a helicopter tour of H-2, Admiral E. Alvey
Wright, State Transportation Director, confessed "I wish all our roads could be built like this,"
contrasting the ease of H-2's construction with the difficulties facing H-3.1oo H-2's unassuming nature
and short length did not mean that it lacked notable features or innovations, however. For instance, the
Design Branch tested methods of pavement skid resistance on H-2 by texturing concrete pavement with
metal tines, which they reported was satisfactory in their annual report.'°'Another notable feature of
H-2 included the 1,900-foot-long Kipapa Stream Bridge spanning Kipapa Stream. The annual report that
proudly announced this highway's completion also highlighted how the Kipapa Stream Bridge was the
first cantilevered, cast-in-place, segmental bridge in Hawaii. The HDOT annual report further described
the bridge as one of"grace and beauty" with "clean lines" and announced its intention to enter the
structure into the Prestressed Concrete Institute award program for 1977. The Prestressed Concrete
Institute granted the award to the bride in November 1977, with bridge design engineer Clarence
Yamamoto accepting the award. The Kipapa Gulch Bridge cost$13.5 million and the entire H-2 project
cost$50 million.'
S x'
INTERSTATE ROUTE H-2
.we.h 1,04. WAWA ...«.
FIGURE 23-INTERSTATE ROUTE H-2.SOURCE:STATE OF HAWAII, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, HIGHWAYS
DIVISION,PLANNING BRANCH,INTERSTATE ROUTE H-2, WAIAWA TO WAHIAWA,OCTOBER 1984,
HTTPS://EVO LS.LIBRARY.MANOA.HAWAI I.EDU/ITEMS/588D9876-1C87-4E E B-BF7A-F718D9490E70.
98 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, [Annual Report]1977 Fiscal Year(n.p., n.d.), 44,
retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010623627.
99 "National Interstate Day."The precise cost was$43,960,341.
10o David Smollar, "Through Heart of Oahu: 'Forgotten' Freeway Proceeds Smoothly," Honolulu Star-
Bulletin &Advertiser,June 16, 1974, A-3.
101 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation,Annual Report:Fiscal Year 1974(n.p., n.d.), 53
retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
102 Smollar, "'Forgotten' Freeway,"A-3; State of Hawaii DOT, 1977 Fiscal Year, 45; Bank of Hawaii,
Monthly Review:Business Developments in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands(December 1977): 7, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009388463; "Gets Award," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
November 14, 1977, D-4, https://www.newspapers.com/image/274444404/.
91 cIII: !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
HIGHWAYS ON PAPER: INTERSTATE ROUTE H-3 AND INTERSTATE ROUTE H-4 (1968-1987)
Following the addition of Hawaii to the Interstate Highway Network, the designation H-1, H-2, and H-3
freeways were considered "committed"to the extent that other transportation plans and roadway
developments assumed the completion of this network in relation to their own. Construction of H-1 and
H-2 continued through the 1960s and 1970s while planning for two additional highways commenced,
designated H-3 and H-4. Both highways would only exist on paper with H-3 being the source of
controversy and repeated studies from the 1960s to the 1980s—Senator Inouye quipped at a 1985
Senate hearing that H-3 documentation amounted to 4-feet-highl°3—and H-4 only being briefly
considered in 1968 in one study. These paper highways reflected changing attitudes towards
roadbuilding, development, and motorization in Oahu's rural and urban areas as well as a resurgence in
indigenous Hawaiian culture that reasserted pre-Contact society independent of haole interests.
The third highway, designated Interstate Route H-3, would become the most controversial segment of
Oahu's interstate network due to its routing, litigation, and public outcry. Planned in the 1960s as a third
trans-Koolau crossing after the Pali and Likelike Highways, HDOT envisioned a six-lane at-grade highway
routed through the Moanalua Valley, Haiku Valley, Pali Golf Course, and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air
Station, at an estimated cost of$250 million.'04 Pushed-back completion dates and increased costs for
H-3 would be a main feature of the highway even before injunctions. The Bank of Hawaii published a
map in 1965 anticipating H-3—and all of Oahu's interstates—to be completed by 1971.1°5 However, by
1967, HDOT anticipated all highway construction to be completed by 1974 for an estimated cost of
103 Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Transportation, Hawaii Interstate H-
3 Project:Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Transportation of the Committee on Environment and
Public Works, United States Senate, Ninety-Ninth Congress, First Session, November6, 1985(Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1986) 63, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010019618; U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway
Administration, State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, Highways Division, Interstate Route H-3,
Halawa Interchange to Halekou County of Honolulu Hawaii, Final Third Supplement Environmental
Impact Statement, October 1987, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100932735.
Between 1972 and 1982 the following documents were prepared for H-3, its impact, and its alternatives:
1) Final Environmental Statement:Administrative Action for Interstate Route H-3, Halawa Interchange
to Halekou Interchange, six volumes (August 8, 1972) 2) Preface to Final Environmental Statement,
Administrative Action for Interstate Route H-3, Halawa Interchange to Halekou Interchange, three
volumes—Preface plus Appendices A and B (March 21, 1974) 3) Final Supplement to the Interstate
Route H-3 Environmental Impact Statement, seven volumes (December 10, 1980)4) Final Second
Supplement to the Interstate Route H-3, Environmental Impact 4(f) Statement(1982)(September 28,
1982).
104 Hawaii's Interstate H-3 Freeway(n.p., n.d), 3.
105 Bank of Hawaii, "Transportation and Housing Needs of Oahu's Expanding Population: Urban versus
Suburban Business Growth," Review of Business and Economic Conditions 10, no. 12 (December 1965):
16, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009388905.
o� 92
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
$523,728,000 for all three interstates.106 By 1971, the targeted completion date for all three interstates
was 1976 and at a cost of$650 million.107 Ultimately, H-3 was completed in 1997 at a cost of$1.3 billion.
The first significant delay occurred in 1972, when a suit against H-3 resulted in the Federal District Court
imposing an injunction against the design and construction of H-3's Moanalua Valley routing, though it
did permit work to continue on windward Oahu between Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station, Pali Golf
Course, and the Halawa Interchange. In 1973, the Moanalua Gardens Foundation submitted an
application for the valley to be declared a national landmark while HDOT continued to plan H-3 between
1973 and 1975. Ultimately in 1976, the 9th Circuit Court reinstated the injunction ruling that 4(f)
requirements stipulated "feasible and prudent" alternatives to be considered for projects that
encroached on historic sites or recreation facilities.108 The Moanalua Valley alignment, was ultimately
abandoned in 1977 for a North Halawa Valley alignment that was approved in 1980. The next
controversial segment arose with the Haiku Valley alignment, planned in conjunction with the future
Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden in 1978. Another supplemental EIS had to be prepared for this stretch of
H-3 in 1982 and construction began on the Halekou Interchange in 1983. The following year, in 1984,
the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the injunction against H-3. Senator Daniel Inouye then
sought an exception for H-3 from 4(f) requirements in 1985 at Subcommittee on Transportation hearing
in the Senate. The Senate voted in favor of 4(f) exemption for H-3 in 1986 which President Reagan
signed into law in 1986. A Court order lifted all injunctions in 1987, and construction recommenced.
When completed in December 1997, H-3 was a four-lane highway with significant stretches of elevated
roadway, 26 bridges, and mile-long tunnels; it was the most expensive road built in Oahu at$1.3
billion.109
Two pieces of Federal legislation underpinned H-3's rerouting, litigation, and pace of construction—
Section 4(f) of the US Department of Transportation Act of 1966 and the National Environmental
Protection Act(NEPA) of 1969. NEPA required an Environmental Impact Statement(EIS)to determine
the effects a given project would have on the environment as well as archaeological and historic
resources. 4(f) legislation forced the FHWA to determine whether feasible and prudent alternatives
existed for the project at hand. H-3 would be the first project in Hawaii where an EIS would be required,
though it had reached advanced stages of planning before the passage of NEPA.
HDOT's Annual Report noted that H-3's alignment had been the source of controversy as early as 1964,
when it tentatively set a public hearing for the fall of that year, though it did not specify what made H-
3's alignment controversial.' In the Draft EIS for H-3, the document provided a brief history of the
106 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1968(n.p., n.d.) 35-36, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
107 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.)45-46, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
108 Hawaii's Interstate H-3 Freeway(n.p., n.d), 4.
109 Kevin Allen, "How the Interstate H-3 Came to Be," Hawaii Magazine, September 20, 2021,
https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/how-the-interstate-h-3-came-to-be/; Hawaii's Interstate H-3
Freeway(n.p., n.d), 5-6.
110 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1964(n.p., n.d.)49, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
=•
93
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
project between 1965 and 1971, when planning first began for the highway. When the first public
hearing for H-3 met on January 11, 1965, HDOT proposed five H-3 corridors (text lightly edited):
1) North Halawa Corridor—from an interchange with Interstate Route H-1 in the vicinity of
Makalapa Crater, it traversed northeasterly through North Halawa Valley and tunneled
through the Koolau range, emerging in Haiku Valley. It next proceeded southeasterly and
then easterly to an interchange at Halekou on the Kamehameha Highway.
2) Moanalua Corridor—originated in the vicinity of Honolulu Airport, traversed the Salt Lake
complex to Moanalua Highway and then proceeded up Moanalua Valley through the golf
course subdivision to a tunnel at the head of the right branch of the valley. Emerging from
the Windward Pali, it included an interchange with the Likelike Highway on the windward
side, and then proceeded to the interchange at Halekou.
3) Kalihi Corridor—superimposed Route H-3 upon the existing Likelike Highway. In effect, it
would have widened the four-lane Likelike Highway to six lanes, terminating at the Halekou
Interchange.
4) Nuuanu Corridor—started in the vicinity of the Kapalama Drainage Canal and the Lunalilo
Freeway, proceeded northeast, roughly paralleling the existing Pali Highay, and then
penetrated the Koolau range through a long horseshoe tunnel. It then arced in a reverse
curve to the interchange at Halekou.
5) Manoa Valley Corridor—started near the University of Hawaii, proceeding along the ewa
slopes of St. Louis Heights, emerging through the Koolaus at Maunawili Valley and
proceeding to the Halekou Interchange."
"State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, State Highways Division, Environmental Impact
Statement for Interstate Route H-3:Halawa Interchange to Halekou Interchange, Oahu, Hawaii(Draft,
June 1971), 1-2, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100932735. Block-quote text
lightly edited.
o¢ 94
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
1IC\..
KANE
' ' 'r `*' 4 Q, KarliLUA
v.,. ot. . ...3 i
c r /0.'....4* ,le4Vkili
Spa/ „'.
/0
ts1/2........_
HONOLULU "
FIGURE 24-PROPOSED INTERSTATE H-3 CORRIDORS.SOURCE:RICHARD D.BAUMAN AND DOAK C.COX, "THE
MOANALUA CORRIDOR:ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ALONG THE PROPOSED ROUTE OF HAWAII INTERSTATE H-3,"
HIGHWAY RESEARCH BOARD SPECIAL REPORT 138(1973):73.
The draft EIS explained that the State of Hawaii preferred the Kalihi Corridor, but the public meeting
shifted the routing to the Moanalua Corridor. Housing development in the southern portion of the
Moanalua Corridor changed the H-3 routing to what the draft EIS referred to as the Halawa Corridor.
This alignment would interchange with H-1 at Halawa near Aiea, enter the South Halawa Valley and
parallel the Moanalua Valley until the Red Hill Naval Reservation, tunnel through the Red Hill, then enter
the Moanalua Valley, and follow the original Moanalua corridor alignment. Plans for routing H-3 through
the Haiku Valley and minimizing possible interference with the U.S. Navy radio installation were worked
out through 1967 and by August 1970 the Federal Highway Administration approved the design.'The
FHWA approved a 9.4-mile long, 6-lane divided highway, primarily at grade with a 0.4-mile-long Red-Hill
Tunnel, 0.9-mile-long Trans-Koolau Tunnel, and a one-mile-long viaduct on the Pali cliff side of the
alignment.113
112 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, State Highways Division, Environmental Impact
Statement for Interstate Route H-3:Halawa Interchange to Halekou Interchange, Oahu, Hawaii(Draft,
June 1971), 4-5.
113 Bauman and Cox, "The Moanalua Corridor," 73.
cIII: !
95
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF WORK
� 1 -
k
/i'
/ / of
j
3000 0 5000 eOCO
LAYOUT PLAN SCALE IN FEET
FIGURE 25-INTERSTATE ROUTE H-3 ORIGINAL ALIGNMENT THROUGH RED HILLS AND MOANALUA VALLEY(1967).
STATE OF HAWAII, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, HIGHWAYS DIVISION,HONOLULU, HAWAII,SUB-STRATA
INVESTIGATION PLANS FOR A PORTION OF INTERSTATE ROUTE H-1, HALAWA INTERCHANGE, FEDERAL AID INTERSTATE
PROJECT NO. I-H1(38)AND INTERSTATE ROUTE H-3, HALAWA INTERCHANGE TO THE RED HILL TUNNELS,FEDERAL AID
INTERSTATE PROJECT NO.I-H3-1(3), DISTRICTS OF HONOLULU&EWA, ISLAND OF OAHU,PREPARED BY PARSONS
BRINCKERHOFF-HIROTA ASSOCIATES, NOVEMBER 16, 1967,SHEET 1, RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://162.221.244.142:8080/As-BUILT/REs/OAH u/ROUTE%20H-1/00H 1-041A/TITLE%20SH E ET.PDF.
Construction first began on windward Oahu. By 1969, right-of-way acquisitions began for H-3 and
construction began in 1970 at the Kailua Interchange at Mokapu Saddle Road as a four-lane highway.114
Contracts for H-3 had been awarded to construction on windward Oahu, though the lowest trans-Koolau
tunnel pilot project bidder miscalculated the construction cost on this portion of the highway and had to
withdraw. At the end of 1971, HDOT readvertised the pilot tunnel as it awaited the results of the first
environmental impact study to be published for H-3.115 The Design Branch also began to use consulting
firms for project management and administration.116 H-3 contracts awarded in 1970 were for sections
between Kailua Interchange to Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station, and between Halekou and Kailua
114 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1969(n.p., n.d.)42, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436; State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation,
Year Ending June 30, 1970(n.p., n.d.) 39-40, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436. Listed in Annual Report as "Kailua Interchange—
Mokapu Saddle Road (Kailua Interchange)to Mokapu Road. Extension and Interstate Route H-3, Kailua
Interchange. 0.782 mile and 0.256 mile. S-0630(7), S-0630(10), I-H3-1(7):13 and I-H3-1(2):8. Dillingham
Corporation. Contract Awarded August 18, 1969."
" State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.)45-46, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
116 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.) 51, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
96 p
r•4.w..F°
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Interchanges.117 Another contract was drawn up for the Kailua Interchange and Mokapu Saddle Road.'
-, • Construction of H-3 merited its
H30
inclusion on the cover of HDOT's
annual report for 1971.119
a..
However, in 1972, the court injunction
and EIS's preparation and approval
am. ��_:
- -;� delayed the readvertisement for the
- •' '`" ` - H-3 trans-Koolau pilot project tunnel,
though construction on the complex
� A y Halawa Interchange (future junction of
w -', 14 H-1, H-3, and H-201) began in leeward
Oahu while construction continued on
- H-3 on windward Oahu between
1 - Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station and
Halekou Interchange, which, in the
•.,V , ".` words of the annual report, "remained
r unaffected by the controversy
, * �," "" involving the tunnels and their
leeward approach."120 This section of
H-3 at the base included culverts and
flashboards underneath the highway
~"" FIGURE 26-COVER OF 1971 HDOT
ANNUAL REPORT SHOWING FIRST
State of Hawaii 1 COMPLETE SECTION OF H-3.SOURCE:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE OF HAWAII, DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPO' 1971 TRANSPORTATION, YEAR ENDING JUNE 30,
RTA I IDN "'
1971 N.P., N.D.),COVER PAGE.
117 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.) 54, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436. Contract numbers I-H3-1(8):14 and I-H3-1(2):8.
J.A. Thompson &Son, Inc. Contract Awarded July 9, 1970. Halekou Interchange to Kailua Interchange.
Contract numbers I-H3-1(23):11 and I-H3-1(2):11.
118 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.) 63, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436. Kailua Interchange and Mokapu Saddle Road
numbers I-H3-1(7):13 and I-H3-1(2):8, S-630(7), S-630(11).
119 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1971 (n.p., n.d.) 85, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010623627. Cover image described on page 85 as "The first
unit of the long-awaited Mokapu Saddle Road on windward Oahu received final inspection on June 25,
1971. This view looks toward Kailua and shows the H-3 interchange in the foreground. The two-tenths-
mile portion of the freeway built under the contract for Mokapu Saddle Road represented the start of
construction on the Interstate tunnel route which is to link Halawa with Kaneohe Marine Corps Air
Station. The entire highway will be extensively landscaped."
12°State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1972(n.p., n.d.)47-48, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
97 cIII !
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
to link ponds with Kaneohe Bay and regulate water levels for nesting birds.'2' Ultimately H-3's windward
Oahu routing would be changed several times as a result of a flood control project as well as the
changing boundaries of Hoomaluhia Park.'22 While the section between the Marine Base and Mokapu
Saddle Road opened in 1972, sections of H-3 also saw extensive landscaping with the planting of
thousands of trees.lz3 The 3.5-mile section between Halekou and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station was
completed at the end of 1974, though connections with the Kamehameha Highway still had to be made
before this section of H-3 became operational.'24 The section between Kaneohe Marine Corps Air
Station and Kailua Interchange was not under court injunction and was almost ready to be opened by
June 1977.1z5 The section between Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station and Kailua Interchange was
scheduled to open for August 1977.1z6
kr:'4.
3
,4., t ir,''' d ' ..,
. "gkr; '°' ; / � Mor pu FIGURE 27-INTERSTATE
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�v Aim, ` i ROUTE H-3 ON
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:r'/r y .µ z� . ���, � M� NORTH SHORE,
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cil
121 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1972(n.p., n.d.)48, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
122 Hawaii's Interstate H-3 Freeway, 2.
123 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1973 (n.p., n.d)47-48, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
124 State of Hawaii. Department of Transportation.Annual Report, Fiscal Year 1974(n.p., n.d.)48,
retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
125 Department of Transportation, 1977 Fiscal Year(n.p., n.d.) ii, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010623627.
126 Department of Transportation, 1977 Fiscal Year(n.p., n.d.) 55, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010623627.
98
STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
While construction continued on windward Oahu, the Moanalua Valley routing of H-3 was called into
question by environmentalists, native Hawaiians, and cultural preservationists. The passage of the
National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA) in 1970 did not exclude H-3 from having an Environmental
Impact Statement(EIS) prepared because other projects at a similar stage in the planning and design
process before the passage of NEPA had not been grandfathered in either. The first EIS statement for H-
3, a 22-page document, was completed and circulated to state and municipal bodies as well as
community organizations in 1971. At this point, opposition to the planned freeway crystallized around
its routing, environmental impact, and damage to pre-Contact archaeological sites. In particular, the
DOT partially funded a Bishop Museum study of Moanalua Valley that identified 20 archaeological sites
within the right-of-way, four of which would be affected. The document's short length and cursory
addressing of the highway's various impacts drew criticism of the document as more of a justification for
the highway rather than an assessment of its effects. Given the negative response to the 22-page EIS,
the DOT began preparing a 5-volume "prefinal draft" EIS in December 1971.127 By 1972, the Design
Branch awaited the five-volume EIS to be published before Federal Approval to continue the H-3
project.128 Ultimately, a stop work order issued in 1972 halted the pilot tunnel project. The Department
of the Interior's Advisory Board recommended further assessment of H-3's routing through the
Moanalua Valley, Red Hills, and Halawa Valley in light of the Moanalua Valley's natural, historic, and
cultural resources.129 Through 1974 the Design Branch continued to conduct compliance work in
preparing environmental documents and public outreach for H-3.13°The Halawa Valley routing and the
stop work order clearly demonstrates the ways highways, motorization, developmentalism, and
environmentalism evolved between the mid-1960s and 1980s.
When framing the need for H-3, proponents argued for its importance connecting military bases,
commuter relief to Honolulu, and as a scenic highway. Public comments solicited by HDOT in the 1960s
reflected the interlocking of elite business, economic, and tourism interests with roadbuilding, as well as
the long history of road projects in Hawaii that, as historian Dawn Deunsing observed, linked scenic
roads with tourism, commerce, westernization, and economic growth.131 When soliciting public
response to H-3 in 1965, HDOT observed a largely positive response. Reflecting the business and
economic interests of Oahu, the Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu and the Oahu Development
Conference saw H-3 as an opportunity to expand, not replace, roadways and open new scenic areas to
drivers. The Army and Central Labor Council of Hawaii both supported the Moanalua Valley route.
Interestingly, while the Outdoor Circle did not support any particular alignment, they expressed that
"...[we stand] for the preservation of natural beauty and [feel] strongly that great care should be given
to the design of this highway and to the contours of the land" and viewed H-3 as "[a] great scenic
highway through a practically virgin area."132 Outdoor Circle's history of Honolulu's elite society women
127 Bauman and Cox, "The Moanalua Corridor," 73-78.
128 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1972(n.p., n.d.) 53, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436.
129 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1973 (n.p., n.d) 50-51, retrieved
from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000548436; Hawaii's Interstate H-3 Freeway, 3.
13°State of Hawaii. Department of Transportation.Annual Report, Fiscal Year 1974(n.p., n.d.)44,
retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/00054 8436.
131 Deunsing, Hawai'i's Scenic Roads, 4.
132 Environmental Impact Statement for Interstate Route H-3 (Draft,June 1971), 2-3.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
and anti-billboard campaigns from the 1920s and 1930s linked road construction with tourism and
automobilism as a means to experience Hawaii's natural beauty in a balance between preservation and
access.133 As its court injunctions and work stoppages delayed construction, Senator Inouye cited
worsening and lengthening commute times across the Koolau and raised the specter of expiring Federal
Funding deadlines that would leave the State of Hawaii unable to complete the partially-built highway
on its own funds.134
Opposition and protests to H-3, crystallized into the "Stop H-3"Association, would reflect changing
views of the environment—that roadways and automobiles damaged nature. The first site where this
dynamic played out for H-3 was in the Moanalua Valley. Originally owned by Princess Bernice Pauahi
Bishop, her widower Charles Reed Bishop of the "Big Five" willed the property to his business partner
Samuel Mills Damon in 1884.135 In 1970, two heirs of the Damon Estate formed the Moanalua Gardens
Foundation and made available to the public 3,000 acres of land. Initial plans for H-3 saw the park and
highway to be developed together, though unpublished records of Gertrude MacKinnon Damon came to
light in 1970 detailing the valley's rich archeological and native-Hawaiian cultural sites. These materials
prompted the foundation to commission the Bishop Museum to conduct an archaeological study of the
valley that demonstrated that the valley"embodie[d] physically the entire course of Hawaii's
history...[the] very names of the valley's ridges, pools and mountains bear in sequence the names of the
traditional ancestors of the Moanalua mountain chiefs."136 In particular, the highway would pass within
100 feet of the Pohaku ka Luahine ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs, and would became part of the
Moanalua Valley's justification of eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places.137 In addition to
the valley's rich historical value, the proposed at-grade highway would force a channelization of the
valley stream, harm wildlife, and damage rare flora and fauna. The Moanalua Valley also featured five
distinct forest types and acted as a major habitat for the endangered 'elepaio bird, the last place where
the rare Oahu creeper bird and the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat were sighted.138 These discoveries
prompted a change in public opinion, notably the Outdoor Circle who then opposed the project. By the
1970s, the reemergence of Native Hawaiian activism foregrounded alternative forms of sovereignty and
land use that opposed roadbuilding and ecological damage and became another critical voice against H-
3. These efforts saved the Monalua Valley, though H-3 would be rerouted to the North Halawa Valley
133 Environmental Impact Statement for Interstate Route H-3 (Draft,June 1971), 2-3; Deunsing, Hawai'i's
Scenic Roads, 4, 163-164, 251.
134 Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Transportation, Hawaii Interstate H-
3 Project:Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Transportation of the Committee on Environment and
Public Works, United States Senate, Ninety-Ninth Congress, First Session, November6, 1985(Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1986) 63-64, retrieved from
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010019618.
135 Lynda Arakawa, "Moanalua Valley's Future Stays Forested," Honolulu Advertiser,April 22, 2007,
http://the.honol u l uadvertiser.com/article/2007/Apr/22/I n/FP704220335.htm I.
136 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, State Highways Division, Final Environmental Station
Administrative Action for Interstate Route H-3, Halawa Interchange to Halekou Interchange, Oahu,
Hawaii, volume II, [May 21, 1973], 37, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010019618.
137 Arakawa, "Moanalua Valley's Future Stays Forested"; Advisory Council on Historic Preservation,A
Report to the President and the Congress of the United States, 1973-1974(Washington, D.C.,June 30,
1975), 28, retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000523595.
138 Arakawa, "Moanalua Valley's Future Stays Forested."
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
after 1977, although this routing also passed through native Hawaiian sites of archaeological and
cultural significance.
Mansel G. Blackford's work on Kaho'olawe reveals two strands of environmentalism in Hawaii, the first
being representative of the white middle class who viewed a pristine environment as separate from the
human-made world and to be consumed in leisure time. In contrast, native Hawaiian activism framed
the landscape as spiritual and cultural in which humans stewarded the environment.139 Opposition to H-
3 generally spoke more to the first form.
The timing of the H-3 injunction also coincided with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 that permitted
substitution of interstate highway construction with mass transit options, and HDOT reexamined and
prepared new studies for H-3 and TH-3 if the highway were to be built to accommodate transit as
well.14°Through the 1970s, HDOT reexamined the five trans-Koolau alignments (North Halawa,
Moanalua, Kalihi, Nuuanu, and Manoa), three variant alignments (Moanalua Puuloa, Moanalua
Makalapa, Kalihi Alternate), as well TH-3 alternative with two mass transit lanes and four mixed-traffic
lanes, a four-lane mixed traffic H-3 alternative, and a no-build alternative. Ultimately in 1977, HDOT
proposed a four-lane mixed traffic H-3 routed through the North Halawa Valley and FHWA approved this
alignment in December 1980. In April 1982, the United States District Court required a supplemental EIS
for the Hoomaluhia Park alignment which the FHWA approved in September 1982, though in 1984 the
Ninth Circuit Court determined that 4(f) requirements had not been satisfied. Senator Inouye held a
Senate Hearing in 1985 that sought to exempt H-3 from 4(f) requirements, which Congress passed in
1986 and President Reagan signed into law. All court ordered injunctions were lifted by 1987 and H-3
construction recommenced.141
139 Mansel G. Blackford, Pathways to the Present: U.S. Development and its Consequences in the Pacific
(Honolulu, University of Hawai'I Press, 2007), 60-61, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt6wr309.
14°Advisory Council on Historic Preservation,A Report to the President and the Congress of the United
States, 1973-1974, 30.
141 U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and State of Hawaii, Department
of Transportation, Report Number:FHWA—HI-EIS-87-01-F(S), Interstate Route H-3 Halawa to Halekou
Interchange, Final Third Supplement to the Interstate Route H-3 Environmental Impact Statement, 1987,
1-1-2, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ien.35556030122501&view=lup&seq=13;Allen, "How the
Interstate H-3 Came to Be."
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
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LAYOUT PLAN 2— ° I'w
SCALE IN MILES
FIGURE 28-INTERSTATE ROUTE H-3 NORTH HALAWA VALLEY ALIGNMENT(1983).SOURCE:STATE OF HAWAII,
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, HIGHWAYS DIVISION, HONOLULU,HAWAII,PLANS FOR SUBSTRATA
INVESTIGATION,INTERSTATE ROUTE H-3, HALAWA INTERCHANGE TO HALEKOU INTERCHANGE, HALAWA VIADUCT
SECTION, FEDERAL AID INTERSTATE PROJECT NO. I-H3-1(31), UNIT 2,DISTRICT OF EWA, ISLAND OF OAHU,APRIL
1983, RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://162.221.244.142:8080/AS-BUILT/RES/OAHU/ROUTE%20H-3/00H3-
029/TITLE%20SH E ET.PDF.
In contrast with the delays, sustained protests, and injunctions facing H-3, a short-lived interstate
proposal surfaced for Honolulu's waterfront. With the three interstates considered to be committed
projects after 1960, an additional interstate was planned for Honolulu's makai corridor and briefly
designated H-4. If H-3 indicated changing values of highway building in rural areas, H-4 became
embroiled in nascent protests against urban freeways. In the early 1960s, highway planners sought to
construct H-1 independently of the Lunalilo Freeway. To this end they proposed a double-deck, elevated
highway of seven possible routings through urban Honolulu, with a preferred waterfront routing. The
Oahu Development Conference, Downtown Improvement Association, and the Outdoor Circle opposed
this routing on the grounds that a highway would damage Honolulu's scenic waterfront for tourists and
harm land value in some of the most valuable sections in the city. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin further
editorialized that opponents feared a waterfront highway would replicate the same mistake as San
Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway.' Ultimately, H-1 adapted the Lunalilo Freeway alignment through
Honolulu in 1965.143 In 1967, the State of Hawaii's Department of Planning and Economic Development
identified an "urgent need for freeway service in the makai corridor between Middle Street and
Kapahulu Avenue" and proposed a grade-level facility traversing Rainbow(Sand) Island and in two
tunnels under Honolulu Harbor's entrances. The Department assessed that such a facility would not
obstruct waterfront views from Honolulu's Civic Center or Central Business District, offer a fast route
between the airport and Waikiki for tourists, and an additional detour route.144 A cross-Sand Island road
142 Tom Knaefler, "Highway Controversy Boils Along Toward Decision," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 23,
1963, page 2, accessed February 20, 2024, https://www.newspapers.com/image/270511974.
143 "U.S. Names Lunalilo H-1, State To Recoup$23 Million," The Honolulu Advertiser, February 12, 1965,
page A-1, accessed February 20, 2024, https://www.newspapers.com/image/259065078/.
144 State of Hawaii, Department of Planning and Economic Development,State of Hawaii General Plan
Revision Program, Part 5, Land Use, Transportation and Public Facilities(Honolulu: n.p., 1967), 131,
retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007115409.
41II
102
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
never made it past this proposal stage, likely due to the expense and difficulty of constructing two
underwater tunnels underneath the busy Honolulu Harbor.
Makai corridor proposals continued when HDOT proposed a fourth highway for Oahu, designated
Interstate H-4, in 1968. This 6.5-mile-long, potentially elevated freeway, would have run along
Honolulu's waterfront and connected with H-1 at the Keehi Interchange to the west and the Kapiolani
Interchange to the east, offering a complement to the Lunalilo Freeway/Mauka Arterial segment of H-1
and a reconstruction of the Makai Arterial. Plans for the Kapiolani Boulevard exit ramp from H-1's
eastbound lanes even included a ghost ramp for a connection to the inbound lanes of the Makai Arterial.
Opposition to this project stopped it from advancing past the planning stage.145 While an FHWA report
from 1970 lists a 6.5-mile "Honolulu, south loop" interstate additional request to the highway network,
additional research has not shown any more reference to this highway during the period under review
for this study.146 The short planning life of Interstate H-4 signaled a change in Highway planning as public
opinion and objections, in addition to available funding, shaped road construction from the 1970s
onwards. A makai corridor still continues to be studied in conjunction with creating a Sand Island road
route with tunnels underneath the Kalihi and Main Entrance Channels.147
'Joseph F.C. DiMento and Cliff Ellis, Changing Lanes: Visions and Histories of Urban Freeways
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2013) 265, note 96; State of Hawaii, Department of
Transportation, Highways Division, Proposed Route H-4, Interstate and Defense Highway System
Extension Pursuant to the 1968 Highway Act, prepared by the Highway Planning Branch in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Public Roads,
October 1968, 2, 17; State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Year Ending June 30, 1969(n.p.,
n.d.), 42, "Interstate Highway(Lunalilo Freeway), Kapiolani Interchange, Ramp Connection to Kapiolani
Boulevard," http://162.221.244.142:8080/As-Built/res/Oahu/Route%20H-1/00H1-040/00H1-040.htm.
146 U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration,Stewardship Report:On
Administration of the Federal-Aid Highway Program, 1956-1970, April 1970, 58.
147 State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Harbors Division, Honolulu Harbor 2050 Master Plan
(November 2022), 8-3, 8-4, accessed April 26, 2023,
https://h i dot.hawa i i.gov/harbors/files/2023/01/VO L-I_H H M P-2050.pdf.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
, 1
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SUGGESTED FEDERAL AID HIGHWAY SYSTEM
FIGURE 29-PROPOSED INTERSTATE ROUTE H-4.SOURCE: HIGHWAYS DIVISION,PROPOSED ROUTEH-4, MAP B.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONSIDERATIONS (1969-1987)
Hawaii's spectacular postwar growth, especially after it gained statehood, was rooted in real estate,
tourism, and a developmental ethos that equated progress with growth. The introduction of jet plane
service and development of Waikiki as a tourist destination resulted in a dramatic increase of leisure
travel to Hawaii. Across the archipelago, the economy began its transition away from plantation crops to
tourism, single-family suburban housing, urbanization, and mass motorization, all of which affected
Hawaii's roads. While new construction meant new, more standardized bridges, the road network of the
Territorial era started to fall into disrepair, showed a need for increased maintenance, or outright
replacement.
Spurring the need for new construction, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, a series of disastrous
vehicular bridge collapses occurred, causing loss of life throughout the United States. The nation began
to focus attention on the decaying state of the civil infrastructure in general, and on the nation's bridges
in particular. In 1970 Congress established a special Federal Aid program to provide up to three-fourths
of the funds needed to help meet state bridge renewal needs. The initial funds from the Special Bridge
Replacement Program became available in late 1972. The Surface Transportation Act of 1978 extended
and expanded the Special Bridge Replacement Program to what is now known as the Highway Bridge
Replacement and Rehabilitation Program. At the time, $4.2 billion was appropriated from 1979 through
to 1982 for bridge replacement and rehabilitation.
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STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE
Replacing old infrastructure began to run against a nascent localized historic preservation movement
with Kauai's North Shore being one of the first sites. In addition, the process of roadbuilding began to
change from an elite-level process guided by commercial or military priorities to one in which
government and state agencies sought out public feedback and local groups.148 As recounted in the
National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Kauai Belt Road additional documentation,
in the mid-1970s, HDOT proposed a two-lane replacement of the Hanalei Bridge at a location 500 feet
from the original bridge. Public hearings held in 1974 and 1975 as part of the environmental review
process for the National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA) allowed residents of nearby communities an
opportunity to share thoughts and concerns with HDOT's proposal. A pressing concern frequently
shared was future growth and development on the North Shore spurred by a new and widened Hanalei
Bridge that could result in a further influx of tourists and tour buses. These concerns and challenges to
HDOT's environmental process resulted in the agency studying wider project impacts for the entire
North Shore and proposed replacements for the Kaua'i Belt Road's single-lane bridges. Once again,
public outcry against substantial alterations to the Kaua'i Belt Road and its bridges came from the
community amid an effort to preserve the rural nature of the road. Concurrently,the Kaua'i Historical
Society prepared NRHP nomination forms for all of the North Shore bridges including the Hanalei Bridge.
FHWA requested a formal eligibility determination from the Keeper of the National Register, who
determined that the Hanalei, Wai'oli, and Waipa Bridges were eligible for listing in the NRHP in 1978. As
a result, FHWA and DOT proceeded to only repair the single-lane bridges and instead widen the Kuhio
Highway from Princeville to Kalihiwai.149
An important voice in these early preservation advocacy efforts was the North Shore Belt Road Citizens
Advisory Committee. Formed in the mid-1970s with 86 Kaua'i residents and originally chaired by
founding member Carol Wilcox, the group formed to oppose tour buses on the North Shore and protest
plans to demolish the Hanalei Bridge.After learning more about the Kaua'i Belt Road,the group's
emphasis shifted to the roadway and efforts to maintain its look and feel.15o Consequently, the advocacy
group renamed itself the Hanalei Roads Committee.151 According to one scholar, the Hanalei Roads
Committee was the first such group in Hawai'i that advocated for preservation of historic roadway
corridors and scenic byways.'The Hanalei Roads Committee, and communities along the North Shore,
viewed the Hanalei Bridge as a "gateway to the North Shore, a cultural resource that helped define their
district and distinguish it from other places in Hawai'i."The organization is committed to maintaining
the roadway's rural characteristics, its single-lane bridges, historic features, and "perpetuate Hanalei's
'slow pace of life and friendliness."'153 Roadbuilding no longer meant transforming space or submitting
nature to commerce, but its preservation helped maintain a "sense of place" whether as rural or
Hawaiian.154
148 Duensing, Hawai'i's Scenic Roads, 257.
149 Wilson Okamoto &Associates, Inc., Final Environmental Assessment, Kahle)Highway,
Remove/Repair/Replace Metal Members, Hanalei District, Kaua'i, Hawai'i,January 2020.
15°Anthony Sommer, "North Shore Highway on Kaua'i Gains Protection," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,April 23,
2004.
151 Meeting Minutes, Kaua'i Planning Commission, November 12, 2019.
152 Duensing, Hawai'i's Scenic Roads, 256.
153 Ibid., 256.
154 Ibid., 257.
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4.0: SUMMARY
The 2013 SHBIE built upon previous efforts to formally document Hawaii's historic bridges. Like that
report, this 2024 SHBIE update continues and expands HDOT's efforts to identify and evaluate historic
bridges throughout the state. The SHBIE, and its bridge inventory forms and bridge lists, should be
viewed as living document continuously updated to benefit current and future project planning. To that
extent, future efforts should continue to utilize the updated Bridge Inventory Form developed for this
update and seek ways to further standardize the SHBIE by tying updates to individual bridge inspection
cycles and information provided in the NBI and AASHTO HDOT Bridge Management(BrM) databases.
In total, the 2024 SHBIE includes:
• Identifying 196 bridges built between 1968 and 1977 and adding them to the 707 bridges
inventoried in the 2013 SHBIE, creating an inventory of 902 bridges constructed between 1894
and 1977. These 902 bridges have been sorted into matrices by island and by ownership (state-
and county-owned) in the relevant Appendix.
• Updating the historic context through the 1980s. Areas of focus included bridge standardization,
construction of interstate highways, and historic preservation considerations.
• Reevaluating bridges identified as HDOT's 100 Priority Bridges. Priority bridges received an
updated form. Additional research was conducted to determine whether the 2013 NRHP
eligibility status would change. Of the 100 Priority Bridges, 11 bridges that were evaluated as
eligible in 2013 have been determined to be not eligible.
• Identifying changes since the 2013 SHBIE including bridge replacements or major alterations.
Thirteen bridges have been replaced. Two bridges have undergone substantial alterations,
which led to a reevaluation of their NRHP eligibility status.
• Providing clear evaluations using the NRHP Criteria for Evaluation and aspects of integrity.
Bridge matrices and updated bridges have removed the use of"high preservation value"from
bridge evaluation and updated forms include evaluation of all aspects of integrity.
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5.0: BIBLIOGRAPHY
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND PRESS CLIPPINGS
"$100 Million in Housing is Foreseen." Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 10, 1954.
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