Skip to main content

Hawaii Route 220

By

Hawaii Route 220 is a 3.7-mile State Highway located on the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island.  The highway connects from Hawaii Route 19 west to Akaka Falls State Park via the community of Honomu.  The road to Akaka Falls was part of the original 1955 Big Island Hawaii Routes and was initially signed as Hawaii Route 22.  The corridor would be later renumbered to Hawaii Route 220 when it was realigned off Staple Camp Road onto an extension of Akaka Falls Road.  


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. 




Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 220

Akaka Falls is located Kolekole Stream west of the community of Honomu.  The falls is 442 feet high and has been considered a major tourism attraction for decades.  Nearby Kahuna Falls can also be found nearby in the so-called Akaka Falls State Park.  

A roadway west of Mamalahoa Highway in Honomu west to Akaka Falls is shown as being present on the 1930 Hilo Chamber of Commerce map of the Big Island.  The earliest known United States Geological Survey map of the Honomu area from 1915 shows a roadway serving Akaka Falls.  


During 1946 much of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway north of Hilo would be destroyed by tsunami.  The rail right-of-way was used to construct a new alignment of Mamalahoa Highway which would become part of Hawaii Route 19 when the numbered Hawaii Route System was expanded to the Big Island in 1955.  Hawaii Route 22 was designated to serve Akaka Falls by way of Honomu Road, Old Mamalahoa Highway, Stable Camp Road and Akaka Falls Road. 

Hawaii Route 22 can be seen in detail on the 1959 Gousha Highway map of Hawaii.  The corridor is seen passing through Honomu and terminating at Akaka Falls. 


Hawaii Route 22 was likely renumbered to Hawaii Route 220 during the late 1970s.  The corridor appears to have been shifted off of Stable Camp Road onto an extension of Akaka Falls Road around the same time.  Stable Camp Road appears on some maps as "Old Akaka Falls Road."



Part 2; a drive on Hawaii Route 220

Westbound Hawaii Route 220 begins as Hawaii Route 19 approaches Honomu Road.  




Westbound Hawaii Route 220 follows Honomu Road 0.4 miles to Old Mamalahoa Highway in downtown Honomu.  Traffic wishing to continue on the highway must turn left. 







Hawaii Route 220 follows Old Mamalahoa Highway for 0.1 miles and makes a right-hand turn onto Akaka Falls Road. 





Hawaii Route 220 continues west 3.2 miles along Akaka Falls Road to the Akaka Falls State Park trailhead.  The highway crosses the one-lane Paheehee Stream near the state park boundary.  















The trail through Akaka Falls State Park is paved and only approximately 0.5 miles long.  The most difficult aspect is finding a place to park a vehicle in the small lot.  








Eastbound Hawaii Route 220 returning to Honomu along Akaka Falls Road has a sweeping vista of the Pacific Ocean. 











Numerous historic photos of the Honomu community can be found in the businesses lining Old Mamalahoa Highway.  The land now comprising Honomu was sold to Inokichi Ishigo during the early 1900s.  The early community was largely based around the Ishigo Bakery which served the workers of the then nearby Hamakua Coast sugar plantations.  







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more