H-3 finally opens*

At least not very often. Yesterday the Department of Transportation threw a kind of warming party for the new H-3 freeway tunnel complex and invited DOT employees and friends. Four thousand showed up. The public portion, "A Taste of H-3," will occur in April.

"It went pretty smoothly," said DOT spokeswoman Marilyn Kali. "It looks like we thought of nearly everything. Except trash cans. Need trash cans next time."

Essentially, the DOT turned the stretch of H-3 between Likelike and Kam highways into the longest, narrowest parking lot on the planet. Busses then picked up citizens and transported them to the tunnel complex. They then were allowed to walk around and look at the tunnel entrances, walk part-way into the tunnel, look at the Coast Guard LORAN station from bassackwards and Kaneohe Bay from a distance.

Doesn't sound like much, but it's actually pretty cool.

The thing is the sheer size of the complex. The pyramids are pikers. The elevated highway snakes into the valley and then charges into the tunnel entrances, which resemble the villain's lairs from James Bond movies huge, forbidding, vaguely fascist in design. It's very governmental. There are cages around standpipes that look strong enough to hold raptors; wheelchair ramps in the maintenance offices underneath the freeway; digital signs a hundred feet in front of the tunnel announcing there's a tunnel ahead.

The site is so big that it takes a while just to walk around. It's called a "self-guided tour," in the same way that self-serve gas stations are actually serve-yourself.

"I just wanted to see the most expensive freeway in the United States," said state-government accountant Carol Raber. "But it's kind of spooky being so high up."

"You'll never be able to walk it when it's open," said Richard Raber, who's with the Army Corps of Engineers. "I came up here six months ago, and it was really rainy. Couldn't see much."

Robert Taua and Sharmaine Villaver drove in from Nanakuli with the kids. "Just wanted to check the view. Something to do on a Sunday," Taua said. "Pretty nice. But the view from the Pali is better."

"Oh, I begged (the engineers) to put in a pull-over scenic view spot," said Kali. But no dice. You'll have to catch it on the fly.

The tunnels themselves are large and airy. There's a smaller lane that some naive newspaper writer assumed was a bicycle or moped lane. "No bicycles!" Kali said. "This is a federal interstate highway! That lane is for stalled vehicles."

Most of the citizens there yesterday were just curious. You've read all the stats elsewhere suffice to say this thing cost umpteen zillion dollars and some workers have spent an entire career on the project. At the same time, this public project has been closed to the public.

Tickets are going fast for the four April Tastes. There's an upper limit of 6,000, and April 20 has 4,000 tickets gone, the 21st is sold out, and the 27th and 28th have already moved about 3,000 each. Admission is $3.50. For information, call 587-2345.

It may be your only chance to get a really good look at what you've been paying for.