Hawaii Road Sign Photos by Oscar Voss (page 2 of 3)

This three-page photo collection is a subset of the Road Photos collection for my Hawaii Highways site, focusing on road signs I found throughout the islands on my trips there in autumn 1999, May 2000, November 2001, and spring 2005, as well as several others photographed by other people (all photos are mine unless otherwise noted). These include not only examples of standard signage, but also some variants thereof, and also some of the more interesting road signs in the state.

Page 1 focused on route markers, milemarkers, etc. for state and county highways in Hawaii. Page 2 below covers route markers and other signage on Hawaii's four Interstates. Page 3 shows other kinds of road signs, both those common throughout the islands and some of the more unique signs seen here and there. NOTE: Page 3 now includes most of the material previously on the older version of this collection's page 2.

NOTE: In case you want more detail, clicking a few of the photos below will call up enlarged, higher-quality (less .jpg compression) versions. Those alternate versions have larger file sizes, so please be patient while they download.


Go back to page 1
Page 1: non-Interstate route markers, milemarkers, etc.

or go on to Page 3: miscellaneous other road signs
Overhead signs on westbound H-1, approaching exit for northbound H-2
Standard route shields for the three main Interstate routes in Hawaii (all on Oahu). Hawaii's Interstate route numbers officially include a hyphen after the "H," but most shields posted on the freeways omit the hyphen (see below for some exceptions). (October and September 1999, respectively)
View of Kaneohe Bay from H-3 viaduct
 
Overhead signs on eastbound H-201 with new Interstate shield, at exit 3 westbound H-3
Beginning in July 2004, Hawaii DOT started adding Interstate shields to the Moanalua Freeway, between H-1 exits 13 and 19, about a decade and a half after that segment was added to the Interstate system as Interstate H-201. The "bubble" shape of the Interstate shield blank, and the skinny characters, helped squeeze the four-character route number onto the shield, though at the expense of legibility. These photos were both taken just west of exit 3 on the eastbound freeway. (Both photos May 2005)
 		 Freestanding Interstate route marker, with 'H201' inside bubble-type shield
 
'To West H-1' marker, on shield painted on white background, with state name    Marker pointing to west H-1, on cutout Interstate shield with state name and hyphenated route number
 		 Some of the signs currently on local streets directing traffic to the Interstates look like the photo far left, with hyphenated route numbers, and including the state name (as if it were ever necessary to remind people that they're in Hawaii!). Others look like the on-freeway shields shown above. The photo near left is an older version of a similar sign assembly, including both a hyphenated route number and the state name, but on a standard cutout shield blank. The newer sign version is not used at all on-freeway, but I don't know for sure whether or not the older version was. (September 1999 and August 1991 respectively, photo near left courtesy of Sheldon Perry)
 
Overhead signs on eastbound H-1, with hyphenated Interstate route marker, going into 35-mph S-curve between exits 18 and 19
On the freeways themselves, route shields with hyphenated Interstate route numbers used to exist mainly on overhead signs, like this one and a few others along Interstate H-1, with a few exceptions shown below. The above sign assembly has since been updated, with a standard Interstate shield substituted, as I think was done on all except perhaps one of the overhead signs with hyphenated markers (the one possible remnant is not on the Interstate itself, rather on a state route at its junction with the freeway). Note the reduced 35 mph speed limit on H-1, heading into the long S-curve between exits 18 and 19. (May 2000)
 
Old hyphenated H-3 route marker, without state name Hyphenated H-1 route marker, without state name
Faded old hyphenated Interstate route shields, like this old H-3 shield westbound leaving Kaneohe Marine Corp Base Hawaii, used to be more prevalent at ground level along Hawaii's Interstates. Since this photo was taken in May 2000, both the shield and the speed limit sign have been replaced, with a regular Interstate shield and a 35 mph limit.
 		 The only two ground-level hyphenated Interstate route shields that were still there in November 2001 were like this nonstandard version at the Kilauea Avenue exit on westbound H-1 (a similar one preceded the following exit, for Waialae Avenue). These too have since been replaced with standard non-hyphenated Interstate shields. (November 2001)
 
Name sign at west end of Interstate H-1, identifying it as Queen Liliuokalani Freeway
 		 Most of Hawaii's Interstates were assigned only route numbers, and not route names (like all of Hawaii's other highways), until 2002. New signs like this (on eastbound H-1 at its west end) posting the new names include a hyphenated Interstate shield with the state name, but in a different style than shown above on local streets directing motorists to freeway entrances. These now are the only on-freeway Interstate shields with the state name, or with hyphenated route numbers. (February 2006, courtesy of Jeff Royston/AARoads.com)
 
Hawaii's Interstates have overhead signs, similar to those used in California, to give motorists advance notice of the next three exits. This sign is on westbound Interstate H-1 through downtown Honolulu at the Aala Street underpass, along with a low-clearance sign, and a 50mph maximum/40mph minimum speed limit sign typical on this older stretch of downtown freeway. (May 2005)
 		 Overhead sign with distances to next three exits, along with 50mph/40mph speed limit sign, and 14ft6in low-clearance sign
 
60 mph speed limit sign on H-3
 		 Hawaii was the last of the 50 states to hang on to the speed limit imposed by the old 55 mph National Maximum Speed Limit. In 2002, Hawaii DOT lightened up a little (a byproduct of public outcry over a short-lived photo speed enforcement program), posting a few stretches of freeway at 60 mph (none yet at 65 mph or higher), like this stretch of H-3 entering the Halawa Valley northeast toward the Koolau Range. (October 2004, courtesy of Ryan Ozawa)
 

Continue to page 3
Page 3: miscellaneous other road signs

or return to Page 1: non-Interstate route markers, milemarkers, etc.
 
© Oscar Voss 1999-2001, 2003-2006. Last revised June 2006.

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