Interstate H-3

Interstate H-3 (H-3) is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Hawaii on the island of Oʻahu. H-3 is also known as the John A. Burns Freeway, after the second governor of Hawaii. It crosses the Koʻolau Range along several viaducts and through the 5,165-foot-long (1,574 m) Tetsuo Harano Tunnels as well as the much smaller Hospital Rock Tunnels.

Despite the number, signage is that of an east–west highway. Its western terminus is at an interchange with H-1 at Halawa near Pearl Harbor. Its eastern end is at the main gate of Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH). This route satisfies the national defense purpose of connecting MCBH with the US Navy port at Pearl Harbor off H-1.

Orders for the freeway were granted in 1960, followed by planning stages. Construction, amid enormous community protest, was begun in the late 1980s, although the road did not open until December 12, 1997. Environmental complaints and legal challenges halted construction at many points. Construction resumed during the late 1980s after a move by US Senator Daniel Inouye, who, in 1986, had the freeway exempted from most environmental laws as a rider on a Department of Defense budget bill.

H-3 was the most expensive Interstate Highway ever built, on a cost-per-mile basis. Its final cost was $1.3 billion (equivalent to $2.21 billion in 2022), or approximately $80 million per mile ($50 million/km; equivalent to $136 million per mile [$85 million/km] in 2022).