Skip to main content

Former Hawaii Route 271

By

Former Hawaii Route 271 was located on the northern coast of the Big Island near Hawi.  The corridor originated at Hawaii Route 27 and followed Upolu Point Road approximately 1.9 miles north to Upolu Airport.  The corridor was recommended for deletion several times during the 1960s and appears to have been removed the Hawaii Route System circa 1967.  

Hawaii Route 271 can be seen below on the 1959 Gousha Highway map of Hawaii. 




The history of former Hawaii Route 271

Upolu Point is located near the community of Hawi at the northernmost tip of the Hawaiian Big Island.  Near the namesake point Upolu Airport can be found.  Said airport was constructed in 1927 for the United States Air Service and was initially administered by the War Department.  The airport was named "Suiter Field" in 1933 which was intended to honor Army Lieutenant Wilbur C. Suiter.  Prior to World War II the facility was used for dual civilian and military purposes.  

During World War II Upolu Airport was manned by the Navy who used it as a weather and communications station.  The Naval Post served as an auxiliary unit of Naval Air Station Hilo.  Following the war in 1947 jurisdiction of Upolu Airport was transferred to Hawaii Aeronautics Commission.  In 1948 a 4,000-foot paved runway was constructed at Upolu Airport and commercial flights began to be scheduled regularly in 1950.  

By 1955 the Hawaii Route System was expanded to the Big Island.  Given the regional importance of Upolu Airport, the roadway to Upolu Point (Upolu Point Road) was commissioned as Hawaii Route 271.  Hawaii Route 271 can be seen below on the 1959 Gousha Highway map of Hawaii. 


Hawaii Route 271 was ultimately short lived.  According to Oscar Voss's hawaiihighways.com the highway was targeted for deletion from the Big Island Federal Aid System in 1964 and 1967.  The designation of Hawaii Route 271 seems to have been deleted following 1967.  

Given the relative isolation was of the Hawi area and northern Kohala coast was broken by the development of Hawaii Route 270 in the early 1970s the importance of Upolu Airport has declined.  As of 2008 the facility only had 790 aircraft operations which comprised of 89% general aviation, 1% air taxi and 10% military. 

Below Hawaii Route 270 can be seen approaching the former beginning of Hawaii Route 271 at Upolu Point Road.  


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

New Idria Road to the New Idria ghost town

By
New Idria Road is an approximately 21.5-mile rural highway located in the Diablo Range of San Benito County.  From Panoche Road to approximately 20.6 miles to the south the corridor is maintained as the paved San Benito County Road 107.  The remaining 0.9 miles to the New Idria ghost town are no longer maintained and have eroded into a high clearance dirt roadway.  Upon reaching New Idria the roadway continues south as Clear Creek Road which passes through the Bureau of Land Management owned Clear Creek Management Area.   The New Idria Mercury Mine claim was staked in 1854.  Following the theme set by New Almaden the community and mine of New Idria were named after the famous Slovenian mercury mining town of Idrija.  Following a slow start the mines of New Idria would boom and the community would reach a peak population of approximately 4,000 by 1880.  New Idria Road and Panoche Road were constructed to facilitate stage travel to San Juan Bautista...
Post a Comment
Read more

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