Skip to main content

Hawaii Route 1370 (former Hawaii Routes 12 and 120)

By

Hawaii Route 1370 is a short state highway which exists in the Hilo area.  The corridor is comprised of a former section of Hawaii Routes 12 and 120 along Kalanianaole Street from Kuhio Street 0.2 miles east to Pua Avenue.  Hawaii Route 12 and 120 once continued east to the end of Kalanianaole Street.  The corridor was once planned to be connected to Hawaii County Route 137 via a coastal roadway which was proposed as an evacuation route.  


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 history of Hawaii Route 1370, Hawaii Route 12 and Hawaii Route 120

Kalanianaole Street is the primary street in Hilo which services the facilities along Kuhio Bay.  The corridor can be seen originating at Kamehameha Avenue on the 1930 Hilo Chamber of Commerce map of the streets Hilo.   


In 1955 the Hawaii Route System was expanded to the Big Island.  Kalanianaole Street was assigned as Hawaii Route 19 from Kamehameha Avenue to Kuhio Street.  East of Kuhio Street the remaining corridor of Kalanianole Street to Lehia Beach was assigned as Hawaii Route 12.  

Hawaii Route 12 can be seen on the 1959 Gousha Highway map of Hawaii. 


According to Oscar Voss's hawaiihighways.com a 1961 era Hawaii Department of Transportation document showed a proposed extension of Hawaii Route 12 renumbered as Hawaii Route 120.  The corridor was planned corridor was branded as the 'Hilo-Keaukaha Escape Road."  The extension would have followed the shoreline east of Hilo and gradually looped back to Hawaii Route 11 (Kanoelehua Avenue) approximately where present-day Puainako Street now is located.  Hawaii Route 120 would have tied in with a planned northern extension of Hawaii County Route 137 (Kaimu-Kapoho Road).

Hawaii Route 120 can be seen in detail on the 1963 United States Geological Survey map.  The corridor is shown beginning at Hawaii Route 19/Kuhio Street and extended east to the end of Kalanianaole Street. 


A 2005 draft Hawaii County planning document rejected a coastal highway connecting the Hilo and Puna districts.  The rationale for rejection was that the proposed road would be inordinately vulnerable to tsunamis and lava flows.  Following the release of the document the Hawaii Department of Transportation relinquished much of Hawaii Route 120 save for the section between Kuhio Street and Pua Avenue.  The remaining balance of Kalanianole Street east of Pua Avenue was reassigned as a disconnected segment of Hawaii County Route 137. 

Kalanianole Street from Kuhio Street to Pua Avenue was renumbered as Hawaii Route 1370 in reference to Hawaii County Route 137.  The corridor was kept in the state highway system to provide a Hawaii Department of Transportation maintained connection from the Port of Hilo Entrance (Hawaii Route 19 at Kuhio Street) east to the University of Hawaii at Hilo Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources Center.  

Below Hawaii Route 1370 can be seen on the 2022 Hawaii Department of Transportation map of the Big Island.  The 0.2-mile highway is not sign posted in-field. 


Below Kalanianole Street can be seen east from Silva Street and Kuhio Street (Hawaii Route 19).  The corridor of Hawaii Route 1370 ends a short distance ahead at Pua Avenue. 


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