Skip to main content

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

By

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate. 

This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series.  A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking here. 




The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11

Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Kamehameha Avenue near Hilo Bay and Hilo International Airport. 

Mamalahoa Highway was declared by royal decree in 1783 via the Law of the Splintered Paddle.  The law was conceived based off an incident Kamehameha I was part of along the Puna coast.  During said incident Kamehameha I and his men were conducting a shoreline raid when they encountered two Puna fisherman.  While pursuing the fisherman across a lava field one of Kamehameha's feet was caught in a rock.  The fishermen seized upon the opportunity to retaliate and struck Kamehameha in the head with a wooden paddle. 

Kamehameha opted to not retaliate against the fisherman and used the incident as the basis of the Law of the Splintered Paddle.  The law essentially guaranteed safe passage to all travelers across the Hawaiian Islands and was used as a basis of Mamalahoa Highway on the Big Island.  The highway corridor was rapidly developed across the Big Island and was mostly annexed as early automotive roads.  

In 1955 the Hawaii Route System was modified and expanded to the Big Island.  The southern half of Mamalahoa Highway from Kailua-Kona to Hilo was assigned Hawaii Route 11.  The early routing of Hawaii Route 11 can be seen on the 1959 Gousha Map of Hawaii.      



Specific only to the 1959 Gousha Map of Hawaii an oddity along Hawaii Route 11 is shown east of Hawaii Volcanos National Park east towards Glenwood.  The corridor is displayed as "Temporary Hawaii Route 11" and part of Hawaii Route 144.  


The reference appears to refer to the original routing of Hawaii Route 11 along what is now Old Volcano Road east of the Hawaii Volcanos National Park boundary.  The original alignment of Hawaii Route 11 appears on the Old Volcano Road corridor on the 1964 United States Geological Survey map (courtesy historicaerials.com) of Volcano Village.  The map however does not indicate any reference to Hawaii Route 144.  Within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park the highway was shifted off of northern Crater Rim Drive to a bypass in 1961. 


There are two likely possibilities to account for why Hawaii Route 144 appears on the 1959 Gousha map of Hawaii.  The corridor of Volcano Road could have been for a time assigned as Federal Aid Program 144 whereas the planned realignment of Hawaii Route 11 would have been Federal Aid Program 11.  There is no known documentation supporting that a Federal Aid Program 144 existed on the Big Island for any road related project.  

The second possibility is that the Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 references were a form of copyright protection by Gousha.  During the 1950s era it was common for map makers to place intentional errors in an attempt to detect counterfeiting.  

The alignment of Hawaii Route 11 was shifted off of Volcano Road sometime during the 1960s or early 1970s.  The modern highway can be seen branching from Old Volcano Road east of the National Park boundary below.  Old Volcano Road serves the community of Volcano Village. 




Volcano Village was founded in 1894 following the improvement of Mamalahoa Highway (alternatively Old Volcano Trail) between Hilo and the Kilauea caldera.  Early Volcano Village served as a stage station for travelers departing the Hilo Railroad station in Glenwood (starting in 1901).  During 1916 the community would see a rise in prominence following Hawaii Volcanos National Park being declared.  The Volcano Road of Mamalahoa Highway was improved to automotive standards with the installation of a concrete surface circa 1927-1928
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more