Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?

Question

Look it up....they really do have them! hahaha

Answer 1

the short reason;

because President Eisenhower said so.

slightly longer reason:

"Hawaii's Interstate routes were an outgrowth of the statehood movement that culminated on March 18, 1959, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation making Hawaii a State. That same year, Section 105 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1959 directed the Secretary of Commerce, where the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) was located at the time, to study the need for Interstate routes in Alaska and Hawaii. After identifying possible routes, the BPR evaluated them according to the same criteria applied during a 1957 expansion of the Interstate System: national defense; system integration (the value of the route as a connector between centers of population and industry); service to industry, fishing, agriculture, mining, and forestry, as measured by the value of products or by traffic data; and population.

On that basis, the BPR's January 1960 report to Congress recommended a 50-mile Interstate network in Hawaii (the report recommended against designating Interstate mileage in Alaska). The Hawaii Omnibus Act, which President Eisenhower signed on July 12, 1960, removed the limitation in Federal-aid highway law that the Interstate System be designated only within the "continental United States" and provided for the regular apportionment of Interstate Construction (IC) funds to the State. On August 29, 1960, the BPR designated three routes, identified as H-1, H-2, and H-3."

It would appear [Big Orange] missed the linguistic point of this question that in order for Hawaii to truly have an INTERstate highway, it would have to construct, at minimum, a ~2,400 mile bridge to San Francisco, or longer to INTER-connect with remaining CA or other existing west coast interstate highways.

Answer 2

They connect the military installations, as technically do all interstates.  There are three, all on Oahu.  They are not numbered with the mainland system--they are H1, H2 and H3.  They go between Pearl Harbor, Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Station, Hickam AFB, Wheeler AFB, Camp Smith and Fort Shafter (Pacific Commands) and Schofield Barracks.

Answer 3

As answer earlier, Eisenhower's Highway System is originally for military use.  As such, you will note that all of Hawaii's military installations are connected by I-H1, H2 and H3.

As a native Floridian, I can give a primary example of how the interstates are used in the event of an emergency.  After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the National Guard shut down I-5 south of Boca Raton or so for emergency relief use.  I-4 exists only because it connects MacDill AFB in Tampa with Orlando (major aerospace facilities) and the East Coast bases (like Patrick AFB and Cape Canaveral), PLUS the Naval Station in Jacksonville.

Interestingly, Boston's "Big Dig" was the last piece of Eisenhower's Highway System to be built.

Answer 4

the same reason that we have them on the mainland...easy transportation...although i do have to say that they are set up really wierd and are as confusing as h**l to locate the entrance ramps sometimes

Answer 5

Because the Hawaiians want you to think that you are still on the mainland.

Answer 6

Well, there is my laugh for the day.  Good question, for which I have no reasonable answer.

Answer 7

Credit for this observation goes to George Carlin.