Two of my readers, Jerry and Mary Bacon, offered me a number of old newspapers they had saved for many years. One was the final edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day.
That day’s paper had many descriptions of the attack and the damage inflicted on Oahu. But it also had several other articles that were written in advance of the attack, and one in particular caught my eye.
It was a drawing and description of three proposed transportation tunnels through the Koolaus: one through Kalihi, one through Nuuanu and one through Manoa.
Manoa? I had never heard of a proposed tunnel through Manoa before.
Since that article appeared in 1941, we built three tunnels through the Koolaus: the Pali in 1956, Likelike in 1960 and the H-3 freeway in 1997.
The Pali tunnel, the article says, would be the shortest — just under seven-tenths of a mile. Likelike would be longer at 1.08 miles, but Manoa would be the longest at more than 1.7 miles.
The drawings were prepared by Cols. John D. Kilpatrick and George K. Larrison at the request of the city and county. The pair recommended the Kalihi Valley route, the article said, because of "certain traffic factors" and the proximity to military bases.
Kilpatrick and Larrison recommended two tubes with two traffic lanes for each direction. The Board of Supervisors (now called the City Council) thought the federal government should pay for it because of its military uses.
Pali Highway was originally Pali Road and was built in 1836 to bring building materials from Windward Oahu to Honolulu to erect Kawaiaha’o Church, a historian there told me.
The idea of a Pali tunnel goes back as far as 1852, long before automobiles. One newspaper, The Polynesian, wrote, "Oahu residents will never be satisfied until a tunnel is dug through the Pali, suitable for the passage of carts and wagons."
The actual tunnel didn’t open for more than 100 years, in 1957.
The Wilson Tunnels through Kalihi Valley opened next, in 1960. They were named for former Mayor Johnny Wilson, who built one of the first roads over the Pali in 1898.
The H-3 freeway opened in 1997 through Halawa Valley and provided a direct link from Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe to Pearl Harbor and Hickam. It was originally proposed to go through Moanalua Valley.
The tunnels are named for former state highways administrator Tetsuo Harano, who served the state for 52 years.
The Manoa Tunnel would have come out in Maunawili, fairly close to Pali Highway.
There was one more tunnel proposed through the Koolaus of which I’m aware. I don’t know how serious he was about it, but Henry Kaiser at one time suggested a tunnel through Hawaii Kai to Waimanalo. He also suggested hotels in Hawaii Kai and a sports stadium.
Bob Sigall’s "The Companies We Keep 4" book will be available by the end of November. It features many stories from this column. Contact him at Sigall@yahoo.com.
