Essay H-3

                                                            Rough Draft (Kc3)

     
           There are many historical places in Hawaii and one of them is the H-3 freeway. Out of all the historical places of Hawaii I would have never thought that the H-3 would be a historical place. But after all the research I’ve done, I was very surprised of seeing how building the H-3 was one of the most controversial issue in the state of Hawaii.

        The H-3 freeway (also known as the John A. Burns Freeway) first opened on December 12, 1997. The Freeway was the most beautiful and controversial highway ever built in Hawaii. That day also marked the end of the 37 years of the protests, legal battles, design changes and cost revisions
 against the H-3 being built. Community activists, environmentalists, and native Hawaiians were the ones that protested against the H-3. The Native Hawaiians were apart of this because the H-3 was built on top of a woman’s heiau or a sacred site for the Hawaiians.

        Building the H-3 Freeway has also cost many injuries and 2 deaths to constructing it. On June 15 1990, there was a carpenter named Orlindo Domingo, at the age of 52, died when a 47 ton bridge accidentally slipped and fell 50 feet. Also on Jan 26, 1995, there was also a carpenter Steven J. Ouderkirk, at the age of 28, died when the concrete wall collapsed on him near the Haleiwa stream bed.

       Although there were many conflicts into building this 25 year project, the result of building the H-3 freeway has been one of the most used freeways in the state. Now drivers finally have relief when it comes to going in and out of the North Shore. The Freeway was also previewed in the show Modern Marvels special episode SuperHighways because of how it was built on this small island.