Hawai`i Roads - HI 61

HI 61, Pali Highway



Ascending Nu`uanu Valley out of Honolulu.


Popularly called the Pali Lookout, "pali" in fact means steep cliffs, which is indeed accurate. Therefore this is properly called Nu`uanu Pali State Park, or Cliffs of Nu`uanu (the river that flows southward from here), and here's the view of the Windward (northeast) Coast. The city nestled in the valley is Kane`ohe.


Two more views from the lookout: Exit 14 on I-H3 at Mokapu Saddle Rd., and the SB second Pali Tunnel on HI 61. Mokapu Saddle Rd. had been HI 63, which was then truncated to HI 83, and then recently became HI 65.


Back when Hawai`i was still a Republic, the first road over the mountains was built to connect Honolulu to Kane`ohe. I assume the one around the coast (now HI 72) was there first. The road is now closed thanks to the modern, divided, four-lane HI 61, but it's still a walking trail all the way down to the city. I didn't go that far, but I did wander a bit from the lookout.


Walking down Pali Road. The last time this was open, the nation hadn't yet switched over to yellow centerlines, so you can still see traces of white paint in the median. In the last photo, looking past the gate, the grass has reclaimed most of the southbound lane but the stripe shines on as brightly as ever.


Walking back up to the top.


Popularly called the Pali Tunnels (as I did in a previous caption), as I mentioned this set of two dual tunnels (i.e. four in all) is really the Nu`uanu Pali Tunnels because there's no location called just "Pali."


Out of the tunnel, button copy magically appears. From here I took HI 83, but came back later via HI 72 for one last photo:


With mismatched shields, HI 61 NB ends at Hamakua Dr. The shield on the left is older, but even Hawai`i's new shields still leave a lot of space on top, as if preparing for the return of the state name.

Onto HI 83
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