Hawaii Route 540

Hawaii Route 540 is a 3.9-mile alternate of Hawaii Route 50 which loops to/from said highway via Halewili Road. This highway was originally designated as Hawaii Route 54 in 1955. Hawaii Route 54 was aligned initially aligned through Numila via Sugar Mill Road and McBryde New Mill Road until the early 1960s. The corridor was renumbered as Hawaii Route 540 in the 1970s which denoted it to be a secondary highway.

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Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 540

Hawaii Route 540 is aligned over Hawawili Road and forms a loop of Hawaii Route 50 (Kaumualii Highway. The loop begins near Kalaheo and ends near Eleele near the turnoff towards Hawaii Route 541. Much of Hawaii Route 540 passes through land which was part of the McBryde Sugar Plantation. The highway passes by the former company ghost town of Numila.

The McBryde Sugar Company incorporated in 1899 as a consolidation of Eleele Plantation, the McBryde Estate, and Koloa Agricultural Company. The company town of Numila once housed over 1,000 Japanese migrant workers who worked at the sugar mill facility. The larger McBrydge Sugar Company plantation can be seen on the 1903 Hawaii Territory Survey map of Kauai.

Numila was served by the Kauai Railway out of nearby Port Allen between 1906-1947. The line can be seen illustrated below on a Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit map. The Kauai Railway passed directly through Numila and followed much of the grade now used by Hawaii Route 540 west of the company town.

In 1955 the Hawaii Route System was expanded to Kauai. Hawaii Route 54 was assigned as a loop of Hawaii Route 50 which passed directly through Numila via McBryde New Mill Road and Sugar Mill Road. The original configuration of Hawaii Route 54 between Eleele to Kahaheo via Numila (displayed as McBryde) can be seen as a major highway on the 1959 Gousha Highway map of Hawaii. Hawaii would become the 50th State on August 21, 1959.

The original alignment of Hawaii Route 54 through Numila was short lived. The highway is shown to be realigned onto a bypass on the 1963 United States Geological Survey map of Hanapepe.

During the early 1970s Hawaii Route 54 was renumbered to Hawaii Route 540. The purpose of this renumbering was to denote the corridor as a secondary highway. The mill at Numila would shutter in 1972 which was followed by closure of the McBryde Sugar Company in 1996.

Hawaii Route 540 appears on the current Hawaii Department of Transportation inventory for Kauai.

Part 2; a drive on Hawaii Route 540

Westbound Hawaii Route 540 begins at Hawaii Route 50 a short distance from Kalaheo.

Westbound Hawaii Route 540 begins with a descent towards the Numila town site. Traffic can enter the town at McBryde New Mill Road.

These views are from the original alignment of Hawaii Route 54 in Numila along McBryde New Mill Road. Most of the worker homes in Numila still stand and appear to have staff from the Kauai Coffee Company Estate keeping them in a state of arrested decay.

The Kauai Coffee Company was created in 1987 as a subsidiary of the McBryde Sugar Company. The Kauai Coffee Company Estate occupies 3,100 acres of land which is largely centered around Numila. This is the largest coffee estate in the United States and exceeds the size of the Kona Coffee District on the Big Island.