The winding, hillside road from

Tantalus Tantalus ( grc, Τάνταλος ) was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus: he was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the wate ...

to Round Top in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, dates back to 1892. Tantalus Drive and Round Top Drive were gravel roads when they were completed in 1917, but were paved in 1937. In March 2007, a seven-mile stretch of the road was added to the State Register of Historic Places, and in August 2009 to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, the first such designation for a roadway on

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

. The more populated lower portions of Tantalus Drive and Round Top Drive were not so designated. This road joins the

Hana Highway The Hana Highway (colloquially referred to as The Road to Hana) is a stretch of Hawaii Routes 36 and 360 which connects Kahului to the town of Hana in east Maui. To the east of Kalepa Bridge, the highway continues to Kipahulu as Hawaii Route 3 ...

on Maui on the National Register, and 97 such Historic Roads nationally. Not all of the latter are on the National Register, but some are listed among the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

s or

All-American Roads A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

Gallery

Round Top Drive with view of UH Manoa, Diamond Head and the city of Honolulu.jpg, University of Hawaii at Manoa and Diamond Head from Round Top Drive TantalusDr-DiamondHead-view.JPG, View of Diamond Head from Tantalus Drive PuuUalakaa-park-entrance-treelines.JPG, Trees lining Puu Ualakaa State Wayside entrance, Round Top Drive TantalusDrive-toward-NuuanuValley.JPG, View toward Nuuanu Valley from Tantalus Drive TantalusDr-hillside-home.JPG, Mountaintop home and tropical foliage, Tantalus Drive RoundTopDr-UalakaaTrail-crossing.JPG, Ualakaa Trail crossing, Round Top Drive

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii Transportation in Honolulu County, Hawaii Historic trails and roads in Hawaii