Archives and Political Processes: H-3 Construction

U.S. Dept. of Transportation Federal Highway Administration

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), part of the US Department of Transportation, came into existence with the passage of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, which consolidated numerous transportation agencies and functions. FHWA is the main federal agency that partners with states to fund, construct, and improve highways to support the needs of the military, commerce, and general transportation. FHWA ensures that all federal standards and regulations related to highway construction are followed. It was the agency responsible for approving the environmental impact statements that the state completed for the H-3 project.

Various appropriations laws have provided funding to FHWA for completion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, of which H-3 is a part. FHWA prescribes how states are to request funding for interstate highway projects, what they must do to qualify for funding, and how they must document expenditures of federal funds. The FHWA gave the state a deadline of September 30, 1986, to either commit to finishing H-3 (and risk losing all $716 million in federal funds if the freeway wasn’t completed), or to transfer the federal funds to other transportation projects such as mass transit. If the state wanted to transfer the funds, the state and county needed to agree on potential alternative projects and notify FHWA. However, when Congress passed a law to exempt H-3 from Section 4(f) of the Transportation Act, Governor Ariyoshi allowed the September 30 transfer deadline to pass, thereby committing the state to the completion of H-3.