Hanapepe Sites

Between 1935 and 1941, the WPA contributed $127,000 towards work at Port Allen Airport, mostly runway expansion and improvement (“clearing, grading, and paving,” Port Allen Airport History). At its peak, in 1947, the airport served 37,000 passengers and provided a landing area for 1,100 tons of cargo. Today, Port Allen Airport is “used primarily by helicopter companies for scenic tours” (Port Allen Airport History).

The Army Corps of Engineers, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Administration funded and conducted improvement operations in the Port Allen Harbor between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of creating a 1,200 foot “rubble-mound breakwater,” and dredging the “harbor basin about 1,000 feet wide, 1,500 feet long, and 35 feet deep; and an entrance channel 500 feet wide and 35 feet deep.” The estimated cost of the work in 1933 was $ 880,000 for new work, of which 200,000 was the contribution of local entities. The estimated cost for annual maintenance was $15,000. In October 1935, about $680,000 were...