Hawaii Highways - Credits and Sources

The route lists and exit guides on this site are based on the original Hawaii State Highways site, created by and © C.C. Slater 1997-1999. I have used his material with his permission.

Many thanks to Bob Chessick for coordinating the transfer of Mr. Slater's pages to other "road geeks" such as myself in early 1999, to preserve as much as possible of Slater's vast network of road sites. Thanks also to Dan "SPUI" Moraseski and Brandon Gorte for their tips on editing and moving Slater's Hawaii pages to their new home.

My "field research"

Much of the information on this site is based on, or verified by, some rather extensive "field research" I conducted on three vacations to the islands, in autumn 1999 (all six major Hawaiian islands), May 2000 (Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island), and November 2001 (same three islands, plus day trips to Kauai and Lanai). During those three trips, I drove every mile of every state highway (except one new one since 2001), and every numbered county highway, in Hawaii, as well as most of the significant unnumbered highways, and former state and county numbered routes. (Don't worry, I got in plenty of beach time too, especially on Maui and the Big Island.) Later, I did a four-island visit in late spring 2005 (Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Kauai), collecting additional information and taking more photos still being added to this site.

Transportation offices

Many people at Hawaii's Department of Transportation, and county highway departments, provided valuable assistance. Earl Kobatake, John Kobelansky, and Goro Sulijoadikusumo, of Hawaii DOT in Honolulu, have been my principal contacts at that agency. Also helping out in various ways, for the original or revised editions of this site, were Phil Cabana, Russell Iwasa, Gary Nishi, Ron Tsuzuki, Jolie Yee, and Loy Kuo of Hawaii DOT in Honolulu, Steven Kyoto and Steve Morikawa at its Kauai district office, Athan Adachi at the Maui office (who took me on a delightful photo log tour of the Hana Highway as it looked a quarter-century ago), and Stanley Tamura in Hilo at the Big Island's district office. Mr. Sulijoadikusumo was particularly helpful on identifying photos from Hawaii DOT's archives that would be useful for this site, including a historical road photo from the 1950s of the then-parallel Nimitz and Kamehameha Highways north of the Honolulu airport, and a 1944 photo showing the route markers used for the temporary wartime route number system on Oahu.

At county transportation departments, I obtained very useful information in visits with Allen Watanabe of the Maui County Department of Public Works and Waste Management, and Stanley Nakasone and Joe Chopra of the Hawaii County Department of Public Works in Hilo. Also of assistance were Paul Won at the Department of Transportation, City and County of Honolulu, and Cesar Portugal and Wallace Kudo of the Kauai County Department of Public Works.

Many thanks to Donna Tamburelli at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in Washington, D.C., for her help with my review of AASHTO historical records relating to route numbering and signage in Hawaii.

Richard Weingroff, a Federal Highway Administration historian, helped clarify the history, rationale, and numbering of Hawaii's Interstate network.

Other people

Regulars on the misc.transport.road discussion group provided helpful information from their own visits to Hawaii and other comments on previous versions of this site, as well as examples of good road site design to emulate. Wayne Huffman pointed out there is indeed a "Don Ho Street" in Waikiki, contrary to C.C. Slater's original rant (but it's just a dinky little private service road, hardly a sufficient honor in my opinion). Robert V. Droz found some interesting history on the designation of unsigned Interstate H-201 on Oahu, in AASHTO records, which I followed up on my own visit to AASHTO. Mark Furqueron's Hawaii Roads page, with photos from Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island, helped focus my research and picture-taking efforts, and is cited on many of my pages as a supplemental resource. Alex Nitzman provided some comments on my Hawaii Road Signs page, that persuaded me to use more "double-wide" (590 pixels wide) photos throughout the site, instead of the standard 280-pixel width. Scott "Kurumi" Oglesby sent photos and information from his 2000 and 2004 visits to Maui to help me update and correct some items on the Maui route lists. Mike Wiley contributed a photo from the out-of-the-way (from my usual "base camp" on the Puna coast on the opposite side of the island) state route 270 on the Big Island's northwest coast, which I only traveled once, without taking enough photos along the way. Tim Reichard sent me a CD full of road photos from his January 2005 Big Island visit, to augment several of my road photos collections including the Hawaii state/county ends collection.

The regulars at the soc.culture.hawaii moderated discussion group have also been helpful in many ways, including alerting me to breaking news, and suggesting site improvements (for example, the Kahekili Highway photo page was inspired by their comments that the one photo I had from my first visit to Maui did not truly show how scary is that road -- several photos I took in my November 2001 visit should fill the bill).

Mark and Sue Pelletier, who visited many of the same islands as I did on my 1999 visit, and at about the same time I was there, graciously let me use some of their photos, including a view of the steep road descending into the Big Island's Waipio Valley, and various unusual crossing signs. Thanks also to Ken Smith of Oahu, who furnished an interesting 1960 photo of the partially-completed Pali Highway upgrade east of the new Pali Tunnels; Craig Seufert, who sent in some road photos from southern Kauai; Sheldon Perry, who dug into his 1991 Hawaii trip photos to find one of an old-style Interstate route marker; and Teresa Frechette from Canada's Ontario province, who furnished a photo of an unusual sign on the Haleakala summit road on Maui. Brian Galapin not only first alerted me to the new Interstate signage on Oahu's Moanalua Freeway (previously unsigned Interstate H-201), but also provided several photos of the new signs within days after they were installed. Ryan Ozawa not only sent me photo updates on Hawaii's Interstates, but also has his own website with many more Oahu road photos than appear on this site.

Hugh Grossman, of the Institute for Astronomy on the Big Island, provided basic information on the John A. Burns Way road to the Mauna Kea summit. Matt Masuoka tipped me off to short-lived plans, eluding my previous searches, for an Interstate H-4 freeway through downtown Honolulu. Other Hawaiians have helped me with updates and corrections to this site, including Rita De Silva on Kauai, and Aaron Stene on the Big Island. Finally, e-mailed comments from innkeeper Kathryn Grout on the Big Island prompted me to add Mapquest zoomable Internet maps to the route and exit guides, to help tourists from outside North America use this site for planning their visits to the islands.

Janet Snyder, Hawaii County public relations specialist, helped flesh out what I read in the local papers about a temporary toll road near the county's southeast coast, to help tourists reach prime vantage points for watching lava flows from the Kilauea volcano.

Much of the work of Hawaii Volcano Observatory photographers appears in the new Lava Closures photos pages. Their photos are courtesy the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Service.

Transportation department records -- state and Federal

The main source for the route list information on state highways is Hawaii DOT's Designated Way and Traveled Way Routes maps and route lists, and associated straight-line diagrams for specific routes, for all six major Hawaiian islands (December 2001, with information being added from the December 2004 maps I reviewed in May 2005). The Official Transportation Map, State of Hawaii (1995 ed.) provided additional information on route mileages and termini. A 1975 map of Kauai, apparently prepared by DOT for distribution to tourists, was also helpful.

A set of interchange diagrams prepared by Hawaii DOT in January 1994, supplemented by its construction diagrams for improvements to the Mililani and Kunia interchanges, interchange diagrams on Hawaii DOT's web site (in the program archives for the Interstate H-3 project), and a review of the 2001 photo inventories for Oahu's Interstates (much easier and safer to work from film inside, than trying to take notes at roadside), provided much of the exit information for the Oahu Freeways exit guides.

Three historical reports by or for Hawaii DOT, "State of Highway Transportation Plan - Highways" (1961), "Federal-Aid Highway System, State of Hawaii" (1964), and "Proposed State Highway System" (1967), were very helpful on how the highway route system was reorganized during the 1960s into its present form, and also on the history of specific routes. A 1968 report on Hawaii DOT's short-lived proposal for a new Interstate H-4 through downtown Honolulu also answered many open questions about that specific proposal.

I also consulted, among other documents, the 1973 General Highway Map for Hawaii; the 1961, 1962, 1976, and 1980 General Highway Maps for the City and County of Honolulu; the 1962 and 1978 General Highway Maps, and 1966 Traffic Flow Map, for Kauai; the 1976 Highway Systems Maps for all the islands (from which I got my information, discussed in the FAQs, about old inter-island ferry routes); the 1973 and 1978 Designated Way and Traveled Way Routes maps for Oahu; the 1989 Hawaii DOT Report to the Governor (in addition to the most recent editions on the Hawaii DOT website); and the 1999 Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice for proposed improvements to Saddle Road (state route 200 across the Big Island). Many of the foregoing maps are in the Library of Congress map collection.

In addition, some pages either now or previously on Hawaii DOT's highway division web site provided additional information for this site.

I copied and reviewed, and have incorporated information from, all of Hawaii DOT's annual reports from 1960 onward.

On an October 2003 visit to the National Archives and Records Administration - Pacific Region facility near San Francisco, I reviewed several library carts of archived Hawaii-related records of the Bureau of Public Roads and the Federal Highway Administration (records groups 30 and 406, respectively), which solved some mysteries regarding the short-lived Federal route system on Oahu during World War II, and yielded other interesting photos and information about Hawaii's pre- and post-statehood highway history. Many thanks to NARA's John Hedger for his great assistance helping me navigate the archives and review a large volume of information in the few days available to me, and scanning some of the historic road photos added to various pages of the Road Photos collection.

Transportation department records -- county

For current and historical information on county routes, and also some historical information on state routes, in Maui County (including Lanai and Molokai), I found two documents very useful: Reference Maps for Mile Post Markers on Maui County Roads (the most recent edition, from 1981), and the April 25, 1968 agreement between Hawaii DOT and Maui County transferring routes from state to county jurisdiction and vice versa.

On a visit to Hawaii County Public Works in Hilo in May 2000, I reviewed the official county route map, and its streets and roads log.

Other maps

James A. Bier's Reference Maps of the Islands of Hawaii series (Oahu, 5th ed. 1996 and 6th ed. 2002; Hawaii island, 6th ed. 1998 and 7th ed. 2003; Kauai, 6th ed. 1999 and 7th ed. 2003; Lanai/Molokai, 4th ed. 1998 and 5th ed. 2002; Maui, 6th ed. 1997 and 7th ed. 2002) were my principal guide to historical routes not in the current state highway system, including some of the more obscure routes not shown on other maps. A related publication, Atlas of Hawaii (1973 edition), provided some more historical information on former numbered routes.

Bryan's Sectional Maps Oahu (2000 and 2005 eds.) provided detailed information on county highways, and freeway exits, on Oahu. Previous editions, of various dates back to 1950, provided historical information on highways on Oahu and the other Hawaiian islands. A competing publication I first noticed on my 2001 visit, TMK Oahu Street and Condo Map Book (2001 and 2005 eds.), provided information similar to Bryan's, which was useful for cross-checks and updates, as well as detailed information about freeway exits on Oahu.

I also consulted the Nelles Maps series of Hawaii island road maps (Honolulu/Oahu, Kauai, Maui/Lanai/Molokai, Hawaii island), the Compass map of Hawaii island, Maui & Kauai (both the 1993 and 1976 editions), DeLorme's Hawaii Atlas and Gazetteer (1999), the Ready Mapbook series (Kauai 2000 and 2005, Maui County 2001-02 and 2003, West Hawaii 2000 and 2004, and East Hawaii 2001 and 2003 -- including milemarker locations, and unusually detailed street maps), Maui Road Maps (11th ed. 1998, and 12th ed. 2001), and a set of five 1977 Hawaii Visitor Bureau tourist maps covering all the islands (including routes traveled by the short-lived SeaFlite interisland passenger ferry system).

Other non-DOT historical road maps of Hawaii that I reviewed include an Army Day souvenir map of Oahu from 1946, and a 1961 map of the Big Island by Raymond Suefuji (publisher unknown), both from the University of Hawaii library (Manoa campus), as well as the Compass and Skipper maps of Maui from the mid-1970s, 1969-1971 and 1974 Rand McNally foldup maps of Oahu and other Hawaiian islands, 1984, 1985, and 1988 AAA foldup maps, 1962 Flying A foldup map, and 1969 Phillips 66 foldup map, all from the Library of Congress map collection.

In addition, I reviewed the following major national road atlases (particularly for historical route information):

Rand McNally (some published for Texaco), 1959, 1965, 1973, and 1976-present
H.M. Gousha (some published for Mobil), 1981-1996
American Automobile Association, 1989-present
National Geographic and similar later road atlases, 1998-present

Finally, I used Microsoft Streets and Trips 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 CD-ROM road maps of Hawaii, both to figure out the routings of some old state and county routes that somehow persist in the program's database, and to estimate mileages of some routes for which I do not have official route mileage information.

Other reference materials

This list is in addition to the many web sites (some of which have their own photo collections), books, and newspaper articles cited throughout this site and particularly its photos pages, which references I will not repeat here.

Richard McMahon's excellently writen and illustrated Scenic Driving Hawaii (1997) is a must-buy for highway enthusiasts planning to visit Hawaii, presenting scenic routes on all six major islands (all of which I drove, except for some of the most rugged 4x4-only routes on Lanai).

The Moon Travel Handbooks for Hawaii, by J.D. Bisignani (Big Island of Hawaii Handbook, 1998; Honolulu-Waikiki Handbook, 3d edition 1999; Kauai Handbook, 3d edition 1997; and Maui Handbook, 5th edition 1999), were my favorite guides to the islands, and were particularly useful for finding photo opportunities for this site and some of my other sites, and also for information on lava flows, major natural disasters, and pre-statehood Hawaiian history.

The 1960 report by the Bureau of Public Roads, U.S. Department of Commerce, "Report on Extension of National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Within Hawaii and Alaska," was enlightening on the rationale (highly defense-oriented) for the corridors originally chosen for Interstates in Hawaii, as well as some of the aggressive proposals for Interstates on Oahu and the Big Island that failed (though not quite as badly as Alaska's proposal for an Interstate to Nome!). It also provided clarifying historical information on the primary and secondary highway networks on Oahu and the Big Island immediately after statehood.

A 1989 report by Susan Ekimoto Jaworowski of Hawaii's Legislative Reference Bureau, "Roads in Limbo: Analysis of the State-County Jurisdictional Dispute," provided fascinating coverage of the long (and still ongoing) struggle between state and county highways officials to offload their least favorite roads onto each other, and the legal and practical problems (also continuing to the present) caused by those unresolved disputes.

Some of my questions on Big Island routes, history, and plans were answered by the Hawaii County General Plan.

I reviewed historical records of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, including its files on what became Interstate H-201, its list of official actions regarding U.S. route numbering proposals, correspondence regarding pre-statehood route signage, and back issues of American Highways magazine.

Kauai and the Park Country of Hawaii (Sierra Club 1967), by Robert Wenkam, includes a short chapter on failed efforts to close the gap in the highways forming a three-quarter-circle loop around Kauai. My FAQs item on that subject draws on Wenkam's narrative, as well as an undated (2000 or later) press release from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility.

Roadside Geology of Hawaii (1996), by Richard Hazlett and Donald Hyndmann, and Hawaii Trails (1992), by Kathy Morey, provided some tidbits of information on Hawaii roads, particularly the very steep access road down into the Big Island's Waipio Valley.

The website on the Campbell Estate's Kapolei planned community in west Oahu provided information on new and modified interchanges planned for Interstate H-1 to serve that new and growing community, which I have incorporated into the Oahu Freeways exit guide for H-1.

Place Names of Hawaii, by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert & Esther T. Mookini (2d edition 1974), was very useful to help me correctly understand and spell the many Hawaiian highway and place names on this site. The more recent Hawaii Place Names by John R.K. Clark (2002) offers updated and additional information on place names, particularly those near the ocean (Clark is best known as the expert on Hawaiian beaches).

Finally, I have incorporated information from numerous articles in the online editions of local newspapers, including the Honolulu Advertiser (especially articles by transportation writer Mike Leidemann), Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Kauai Garden Island News, Maui News, Hawaii Herald-Tribune (Hilo), and West Hawaii Today (Kailua-Kona).

Graphics used on this site

Kurumi's SignMaker program helped me generate most of the sign-style links used on this site.

The sign graphics in the Oahu Freeways exit guides are from, or based on images from, the online version of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

The sources of the various map graphics (some DeLorme, some Mapquest, some Microsoft Streets and Trips) are noted on or next to each individual map.

Other graphics were created by me and/or C.C. Slater.

Links to main page and other parts of Hawaii Highways site, and related sites:

Comments, more questions, etc.? Please e-mail me.