Transportation In Honolulu

Because the city of Honolulu and the entire state of Hawaii looks so small on your map, you may think you can just sling ropes over your shoulder and roll your new refrigerator home from wherever you happened to buy it, but you'd be wrong. Despite its relative size compared to the rest of the world, Honolulu is big enough to need a dedicated transportation system consisting of road, rail and air transit in order to meet the needs of its citizens and the millions of visitors who arrive each year. For a quick guide as to how you might get around in Honolulu, should you choose to go there, turn to us.

By Sea

Honolulu Harbor is the principle means by which manufactured goods and other products arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Over 80% of the goods required to sustain Hawaii are imported through harbors like this one. Significant hydro excavation has gone into maintaining the port approaches and dockyards. Over 11 million tons of cargo arrives on container ships every year, accompanied by the comings and goings of pleasure boats from all over the world. Honolulu is also a popular stopover spot for cruise ships on tours of the Pacific.

By Air

As you will probably have guessed, the getting to Hawaii by boat takes longer than most people are willing to put up with. For this reason, though most of the crude oil and high temperature tape arrives via container ship, the vast majority of people arrive by plane. Honolulu's principle airport is Honolulu International, which is one of the busiest in the country. It serves over 21 million passengers per year and is a major stopover on routes across the Pacific between North America and Australia, Asia, and other islands in the South Pacific. Honolulu International also handles a fair amount of cargo, about 389,000 tons per year. For flights between islands and private jet service, Kalaeloa Airport is a former military airfield that often provides landing space for these types of flights.

By Road

Though there are no other states to which they can possibly connect, Hawaii has several interstate highways. Cars on this road are the major users of the front auto plate]s imported through Honolulu Harbor. The H-1 freeway runs east-west through the city from Hickham Air Force base past Honolulu International and out into Waialae. The H-2 and H-3 feed into the H-1. The other major highway is the H-201, which connects with all three of the other interstates. Honolulu is also connected to Kaileua, Kaneohe, Waialae, and Waimanalo Beach via routes 61, 63, 72 and 99.

Public Transit

If you want to reduce your chances of getting into a metal bender on the freeways you can always take a public transit bus, as the Honolulu public transit system has been voted the best in the country twice. There are 531 buses traveling over 100 routes all over Oahu, giving Honolulu busses the 4th highest ridership in terms of population in the country.