Ala Wai Canal

Ala Wai Canal
Ala Wai Canal
Specifications
Length	1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Status	Open
History
Construction began	1921
Date completed	1928
Geography
Start point	Manoa and Palolo Streams (tributary)
End point	Ala Wai Harbor, Pacific Ocean

The Ala Wai Canal is an artificial waterway in Honolulu, Hawaii which serves as the northern boundary of the tourist district of Waikīkī. It was created in 1928 for the purpose of draining the rice paddies and swamps which would eventually become the tourist resort area of Waikiki. It also serves as a primary drainage corridor for the rivers and streams that run through central and east Honolulu.

The canal runs from just northwest of Kapahulu Avenue along the length of Waikīkī, then turns southwest to empty into the Pacific Ocean. Bridges cross the canal at McCully Street, Kalākaua Avenue, and Ala Moana Boulevard. Ala Wai Boulevard runs parallel to the west side of the canal in Waikiki.

Before the canal existed, Waikiki consisted of wetlands which were fed by streams running from the Makiki, Palolo, and Manoa valleys to the sea. In the early 1900s, Lucius Pinkham, then President of the Territorial Board of Health, developed the idea of constructing a drainage canal to drain the wetlands, which he considered "unsanitary." Although the canal proposal was approved by the Board of Health, final approval did not occur until Pinkham became Governor of Hawaii.

Construction of the canal, by Walter F. Dillingham's Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, began in 1921 and was completed in 1928. When the city was permitting for new buildings in Waikiki they required builders to build above sea level. Dillingham then sold the dirt he had dredged to create the canal so they could build up the newly created land. The canal is still routinely dredged, most recently in 2003.

The creation of the canal shunted the flow of the streams directly into the ocean, which resulted in the creation of several square miles of new real estate. Among those who benefited from the development were people who, though of modest means, had obtained and maintained small rice and bean farms. The reclamation of these lands were considered pivotal in the eventual development of Waikiki as a tourist center.

When originally designed, the canal's two-mile long waterway had two outlets, one on either end, which would allow sedimentation to be flushed into the ocean. However, engineers decided not to build the eastern outlet, near Kapiolani Park and the Waikiki Natatorium, when they determined that the contamination from that end would end up on the beaches of Waikiki.

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