The Aloha State was the 50th admitted into the Union and holds many distinctions among the states. Hawaii is the only state that is an archipelago, the only state to grow coffee, and the only to have a royal palace. The eight islands of the archipelago were formed by magma flowing from a hotspot on the sea floor during volcanic eruptions and are astonishing geological formations in many ways. For example, Hawaii’s tallest mountain, Mauna Kea, when measured from its base on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, stands at 33,500 feet – taller than Mount Everest.
While the Hawaiian economy continues to be dominated by the tourism industry, recently members of state and federal government and citizen groups have worked to boost the economy by developing a new alternative energy industry. Those efforts have focused on developing the state’s wind, solar and water resources to break Hawaii’s dependence on foreign fossil fuels. The state’s food exports include coffee, macadamia nuts, sugarcane, and pineapple, a crop indigenous to South America that was introduced to tropical areas by Spanish and Portuguese explorers.
Roads
Interstate H-1: Hawaii’s busiest Interstate, H-1 is an east/west highway on the island of Oahu and is also known both as the Lunalilo Freeway and the Queen Lili’uokalani Freeway. H-1 spans the gap between Kapolei and Honolulu.
Interstate H-201: Also known as the Moanalua Freeway, H-201 is just over 4 miles long and travels from Halawa to Honolulu on the island of Oahu.
Interstate H-2: Otherwise known as the Veterans Memorial Freeway, H-2 is a north/south Interstate on Oahu running 8 miles between Pearl City and Wahiawa.
Interstate H-3: H-3, or the John A. Burns Freeway, is a 15-mile route from Halawa to Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Oahu.