Skip to main content

Former Hawaii Routes 26 and 269

By

Hawaii Routes 26 and 269 were both original 1955 era Hawaii Route designations located on the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 26 served as a 9.4-mile highway connecting Kawaihae east to Waimea via Kawaihae Road.  Hawaii Route 269 was a short 0.2-mile highway which continued west of Kawaihae to a Coast Guard Sector located on Kawaihae Harbor.  Hawaii Route 269 was deleted during the late 1960s due to being removed from the Big Island Federal Aid System.  Hawaii Route 26 would be consumed by extensions of Hawaii Route 270 and Hawaii Route 19 in the 1970s. 

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 Routes 26 and 269

In 1955 the Hawaii Route System was expanded to the Big Island.  The corridor Kawaihae Road from Hawaii Route 25 near Waimea west to Kawaihae was assigned as the 9.4-mile-long Hawaii Route 26.  Within Kawaihae itself the Kawaihae Lighthouse Road (later Akoni Pule Highway) was assigned as Hawaii Route 269.  

Hawaii Route 26 can be seen terminating in Kawaihae at the Kawaihae Harbor Road on the 1956 United States Geological Survey map.  A major roadway (Hawaii Route 269) is shown continuing to the Kawaihae Lighthouse and the Coast Guard Sector Pier.  


Hawaii Route 26 can be seen in detail on the 1959 Gousha Highway map of Hawaii.  Small routes such as Hawaii Route 269 often were not displayed on Gousha maps aside from city inserts. 


Hawaii Route 269 was short lived.  The corridor was recommended for deletion from the Big Island Federal Aid System in 1967 according to Oscar Voss's hawaiihighways.com. 

During July 1973 Hawaii Route 27 was extended to Hawaii Route 26 in Kawaihae.  The corridor was renumbered as Hawaii Route 270 and branded as Akoni Pule Highway (previously the Kawaihae-Makukona Road). 

By 1975 the Queen Kaahumanu Highway was completed and used as a realignment of Hawaii Route 19.  The entirety of Hawaii Route 26 was subsequently consumed for extensions Hawaii Routes 19 and 270.  Hawaii Route 19 consumed the portion of Kawaihae Road east Queen Kaahumanu Highway to Waimea whereas the segment to Kawaihae was added to Hawaii Route 270.  

The current designations on Kawaihae Road can be seen on the 1975 United States Geological Survey map of the Big Island.




Part 2; a drive on what was Hawaii Routes 26 and 269

The former routing of Hawaii Route 269 is hard to identify as it is fairly non-descript.  The highway existed on what is now Hawaii Route 270 roughly between Kaewa Place and Kawaihae Road.  






Hawaii Route 26 would have begun along Kawaihae Road east to where now Hawaii Route 270 now ends at Hawaii Route 19 (Queen Kaahumanu Highway).







Hawaii Route 26 would have followed what is now Hawaii Route 19 on Kawaihae Road and terminated at Hawaii Route 25 (now Hawaii Route 250).  

















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

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

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