Hawai'i Belt Road
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The Hawaiʻi Belt Road is an alternate name for the Māmalahoa Highway and consists of Hawaiʻi State Highways [11], [19], and [190] that encircles the Island of Hawaiʻi. The southern section, between Hilo and Kailua-Kona is numbered as State Highway 11. The section between Hilo and Waimea is State Highway 19. Between Waimea and Kailua-Kona, the road is split in two: the original “mauka” route (now State Highway 190) and a “makai” route [19], completed in 1975, which serves as access to the Kona/Kohala Coast resorts. (In the Hawaiian language, “mauka” means “towards the mountain” and “makai” is “towards the sea.” These terms are commonly used in travel directions.)
Much of the Hawaiʻi Belt Road through North Hilo and Hāmākua districts was built on the roadbed and bridges of an old rail line as part of the recovery from a tsunami that ravaged the island's northeast coast in 1946.
Parts of the southern half of the Hawaiʻi Belt Road were known during the Territorial days as the Kaʻū Belt Road. Whilst the names "Hawaiʻi Belt Road" and "Māmalahoa Highway" refer to the road system that encircles the entire island, many sections are also referenced by local names, shown in italics.
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[edit] History
Māmalahoa Highway is named for the royal decree by King Kamehameha I after an incident he and his party experienced in 1783.
As he prepared to unite the Islands of Hawaiʻi, Kamehameha I would conduct shoreline raids on the neighboring ahupuaʻa (traditional land divisions). It was on one such incursion that the King’s warriors encountered two local fishermen along the Puna coast. The two fled to warn others of the pending attack and Kamehameha and his men took chase. Whilst they crossed a lava field, one of the King’s feet got caught in a crevice and became stuck.
The fishermen, seizing the opportunity to retaliate, returned and attacked. In the ensuing brawl, one of the King’s steersmen was killed and Kamehameha himself received a blow to the head that was so hard that it splintered the man’s weapon – a solid koa canoe paddle. The two Puna men escaped.
Kamehameha I opted not to retaliate but instead took this as a divine lesson: The strong must not mistreat the weak, his people must be assured protection from harm’s way in their pursuits and that safe passage must be everyone’s entitlement. A decade later, King Kamehameha the Great, upon reflecting on his deliverance that day in Puna and on the memory of his fallen warrior, proclaimed Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe – the Law of the Splintered Paddle – at Kahaleʻioleʻole in the Kaipalaoa area of Hilo.
KE KĀNĀWAI MĀMALAHOE: E nā kānaka E mālama ʻoukou i ke Akua, A e mālamahoʻi ke kanaka nui a me ke kanaka iki; E hele ka ʻelemakule, ka luahine a me ka kama A moe i ke ala ʻAʻohe mea nanā e hoʻopilikia. Hewa no, make !
THE LAW OF THE SPLINTERED PADDLE: O my people Honour thy God, Respect alike [the rights of] the great man and the humble man; See to it that the old man, the aged woman and the child Sleep by the side of the path Sans the fear of harm. Disobey, die !
Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe is considered such an important law to the Hawaiians that at the 1978 Constitutional Convention it was added to the Constitution of Hawaiʻi. In it, the law protects the public and the safety of all who travel throughout the Islands, including fishermen, gatherers, hunters and visitors alike.
- Hawaiʻi Constitution (Article IX, Section 10) - Public Safety
- The Law of the Splintered Paddle, Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe, [as] decreed by Kamehameha I, [that] every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety, shall be a unique and living symbol of the State's concern for public safety. The State shall have the power to provide for the safety of the people from crimes against persons and property.
- (Add ConCon 1978 and election 7th November, 1978.)
[edit] Highway 11
The MILE Ø marker is at the intersection of Kamehameha Avenue [19], Banyan Drive and Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo. Highway 11 then proceeds along Kanoelehua Avenue towards Keaʻau where it becomes Volcano Highway near MILE 4 before crossing into Puna District. Volcano Highway intersects with the terminus of Keaʻau-Pāhoa Road [130] past MILE 6 and Old Keaʻau-Pāhoa Road [139], then continues through the towns of Kurtistown, Mountain View, Glenwood and Volcano.
Just beyond the Kaʻū District line, the entrance to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park at MILE 28 marks another name change, back to Māmalahoa Highway. The two lane road crests (4024 ft/1226M) just before the MILE 30 marker and then heads down a l—o—n—g downhill stretch through the Kaʻū Desert towards the black sands of Punaluʻu Beach Park, passing macadamia orchards near the town of Pāhala at MILE 51 and the SeaMountain Resort in Nīnole at MILE 56.
Next are Nāʻālehu (MILE 63), the southernmost community in the USA, and Waiʻōhinu (MILE 65) which was a favoured retreat for Mark Twain. A winding uphill climb yields to a meandering country lane were South Point Road, near MILE 69, leads to Ka Lae.
Another comfortable stretch of two lane road and a return to highway speeds begins past the MILE 71 marker. Māmalahoa Highway crosses Mauna Loa's 1907 Lava Flow — there is a beautiful scenic point at MILE 75 — before passing through Hawaiian Ocean View Estates between Tiki Lane and Aloha Boulevard. Just past MILE 82 is the South Kona District line.
Starting at MILE 89, Māmalahoa Highway becomes quite twisty-turny with a number of sharp curves and steep drop-off along the "makai" side of the road. Many small fishing villages dot the coast, including Miloliʻi, Pāpā Bay, Kona Paradise and Hoʻokena. The macadamia orchards soon give way to another tree crop. This is Kona Coffee Country.
Keala o Keawe Road [160], just shy of MILE 104, serves as access to Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Park and St. Benedict’s Painted Catholic Church. Further along is the town of Captain-Cook, named for the famed English explorer Capt. James Cook, RN. Nāpōʻopoʻo Road [160] leads down to Nāpōʻopoʻo and Kealakekua Bay, site of the Cook Monument.
After MILE 111 come the towns of Kealakekua, Kainaliu and Honalo. At "Coffee Junction" (MILE 114), Māmalahoa Highway continues straight and eventually becomes [[Hawaii State Highways#State highways on hawaiʻi|Highway 180]], whilst Highway 11 veers to left and becomes Kuakini Highway. A somewhat steep descent off Puʻuloa drops into the town of Kailua-Kona.
Just past Lako Street is where Kuikini Highway branches to the left and Highway 11 becomes Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway. In the vicinity of MILE 121, Hualālai Road [182] (incorrectly signed as "180") crosses at an exaggerated angle (a rare multiplex route). Highway 11 finally reachs the crossroads of the “Queen K” and Palani Road, pinpointing the termini of all three Hawaiʻi Belt Road route numbers.
- TOTAL MILES = 122.3 (196.9kM).
[edit] Highway 19
Tucked away at the gates to Hilo Wharf on Kūhiō Street is the MILE Ø marker for Highway 19. One block later, it then turns right onto Kalanianaʻole Avenue, running between the waters of Hilo Bay and the Runway 8/26 of Hilo International Airport, before crossing Kanoelehua Avenue [11] and Banyan Drive where the name changes to Kamehameha Avenue. Flanking the Wailoa River Bridge is the Tsunami Memorial Clock with its hands frozen in time at the moment the killer waves struck early morning on 23rd May, 1960.
The highway continues along Kamehameha Avenue, paralleling a closed section of Bayfront Highway (constructed but never opened, it is used as access and parking for Hilo Bayfront Park), then turns right onto Pauahi Street before quickly turning left onto the open section of Bayfront Highway. NOTE: Bayfront Highway, which serves as a bypass for the downtown business district of Hilo, is often closed to traffic by the Hawaiʻi Police Department in times of high surf.
Passed the intersection with Waiānuenue Avenue [200], Highway 19 crosses the "Singing~" or "Whistling Bridge" — a converted railroad plate girder bridge whose metal grate roadway causes tires to “sing” as vehicles pass over it. Leaving Hilo, the route assumes the name Hawaiʻi Belt Road, leaving Māmalahoa Highway to the older decommissioned portions of the original thoroughfare. Many former sugar plantation towns dot the highway, including Wainaku, Paukaʻa and Pāpaʻikou.
Shortly after the MILE 7 marker, part of the old Māmalahoa Highway crosses Hawaiʻi Belt Road. The road to the right leads down the “Onomea Scenic Drive,” a four-mile (6½ kM) loop road that crosses several one-lane wooden bridges and past the Hawaiʻi Tropical Botanical Garden overlooking Onomea Bay before returning to Hawaiʻi Belt Road at MILE 10 in Pepeʻekeō.
Hawaiʻi Belt Road meets the rugged Hāmākua coastline near MILE 12. A left turn onto Honomū Road [220] leads to ʻAkaka Falls State Park, home of the namesake 442-foot (135-metre) tall waterfall and the slightly shorter Kahūnā Falls. These waters empty in the Pacific Ocean at Kolekole Beach Park past MILE 14.
The Hakalau Bridge carries Highway 19 from the South Hilo District to North Hilo District. A number of cascades are visible from the road on the “mauka” side of the highway. Umauma Falls is inside the World Botanical Gardens but from the Umauma Bridge (between MILE 16 and MILE 17), two just-as-beautiful falls are seen. Between MILE 18 and MILE 19 is Nānue Stream with another picturesque waterfall.
The highway negotiates three "horseshoe" curves: Maulua (MILE 22), Laupāhoehoe (MILE 26) and Kaʻawaliʻi (MILE 28). Maulua Gulch has a small waterfall emptying into the ocean (visible from the Hilo side by looking across the gulch) and another in the back part of the gorge near the base of the radio tower. Also, an abandoned railroad tunnel is sometimes visible from the Hāmākua side). The Laupāhoehoe Railroad Museum is located on the “mauka” side past MILE 25. On the other side of Laupāhoehoe Gulch, an access road leads down to Laupāhoehoe Point Beach Park where the victims of the 1946 “April Fool’s Day” tsunami are memorialized. Past Kaʻawaliʻi Gulch lie the much-welcomed passing lanes as Highway 19 goes by the old sugarmill town of ʻOʻōkala.
The Hāmākua District begins on the opposite side of Kaʻula Bridge (MILE 30). Highway speeds are now the norm but caution must be observed whilst crossing the narrow “Curved Bridge” near MILE 32. This area is rich in history from the days when sugar was king. Hamlets with names like Kūkaʻiau, Paʻauilo, Kalōpā and Pāʻauhau were once sweet with the sounds of plantation workers from places like the Philippines, China and Japan.
Māmane Street [240] (MILE 42) spurs off to the right to become the main street of Honokaʻa before providing access to Waipiʻo Valley. Across from Tex Drive-In, Old Māmalahoa Highway branches “mauka” of the Hawaiʻi Belt Road to wind through the rugged hills of Āhualoa and is a pleasant — if not slower — route to Waimea. Meanwhile, Hawaiʻi Belt Road makes its way through fog-shrouded eucalyptus stands.
The Old Māmalahoa Highway rejoins Highway 19 near MILE 52 where they cross into South Kohala District. Now referred again as Māmalahoa Highway, Highway 19 continues into the town of Waimea (known as Kamuela only by the USPS), the headquarters for Parker Ranch and the heart of paniolo country.
At MILE 57, the route turns right onto Lindsey Road (see State Highway 190). One block down, Highway 19 spurs left onto Kawaihae Road, past Waimea's own “restaurant row” and before starting downhill towards the Kona/Kohala Coast. Just beyond MILE 59 is a “Y” junction with Kohala Mountain Road [250] in front of Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy.
Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway begins at the "T" intersection with State Highway 270 past MILE 67 outside Kawaihae. Completed in 1975, “The Queen K” connects the resort properties of Mauna Kea Beach (MILE 68), Mauna Lani (MILE 73), Waikōloa Beach (MILE 76) and Kaʻūpūlehu (MILE 87) with the Keāhole-Kona International Airport (MILE 83) and the town of Kailua-Kona. Some of the noteworthy beaches include the likes of Hāpuna, 69~ and 67-Beach, Holoholokai, ʻAnaehoʻomalu, Makalawena, Kekaha Kai and Kaloko-Honokōhau.
The terminus of Highway 19 is at the crossroads of Palani Road [190] (MILE 100) where Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway continues as State Highway 11.
- TOTAL MILES = 100.0 (160.9kM).
[edit] Highway 190
The continuation of Māmalahoa Highway from the Lindsey Road [19] intersection is the beginning of Highway 190 with the MILE Ø marker posted on the “Chevron” corner. This is the original Hilo-to-Kona link which served as Highway 19 until the route was reassigned in 1975 to the newly-opened Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway.
The road subsequently runs past Camp Tarawa, the Parker Ranch headquarters and the Waimea-Kohala Airport before traversing the rolling pasturelands of the South Kohala District.
Few intersections are found along the next twenty miles (32 kM). Saddle Road [200] comes to its terminus near MILE 6 and Waikōloa Road ends its twelve-mile climb from the Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway at Māmalahoa Highway’s MILE 11 marker. There are some tricky “S-curves” as the old road passes Puʻu Lani Ranch (MILE 20) in Puʻuanahulu and the entrance to Puʻuwaʻawaʻa Ranch. A long narrow strip of asphalt stretches across the windswept rangelands and lava fields covered with fountain grass.
As the road passes through a stand of eucalyptus and ʻohiʻa trees near MILE 31, the “mauka” neighbourhoods of the North Kona District come into view: Kalaoa, Kona Palasades Estates, Koloko Mauka and Honokōhau. On the other side of MILE 35, a new traffic light is being installed at the top of Hina Lani “Costco” Street.
A block later, Māmalahoa Highway turns left and becomes Highway 180 whilst Highway 190 continues straight, becoming Palani Road. The route descends rapidly towards Kailua-Kona, making many quick turns and narrow curves. Palani Road meets Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway [11/19], marking the end of the route (Palani Road continues “makai” to its junction with Kuakini Highway and Aliʻi Drive).
- TOTAL MILES = 38.7 (62.3kM).
[edit] Junctions
State Highways are marked as [××] whilst County funded roads are with (××). Former or unmarked routes are indicated by an asterisk.
- HIGHWAY 11
| Mile | Town |  |
Street Name | Point(s) of Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ø | Hilo | [19] | Kamehameha Avenue / Kalanianaʻole Avenue | Banyan Dr., Hilo Bay, ITO, Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 6 | Keaʻau | [130] | Keaʻau Bypass Road | Pāhoa, Kalapana |
| 7 | Keaʻau | [139] | Old Keaʻau-Pāhoa Road | “Downtown” Keaʻau |
| 26 | Volcano | (148) | Wright Road | |
| 28 | HVNP | (130)* | Crater Rim Drive | Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Nat’l Park |
| 51 | Pāhala | [15]* | Kamahi Street | Old plantation town, Wood Valley |
| 52 | Pāhala | [15]* | Maile Street | |
| 101 | Hoʻokena | [10]* | Hoʻokena Beach Road | Hoʻokena Beach Park |
| 103 | Hōnaunau | [160] | Keala o Keawe Road | Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau Nat'l Historic Park |
| 110 | Captain-Cook | (160) | Nāpōʻopoʻo Road | Nāpōʻopoʻo |
| 110 | Captain-Cook | (187) | Aliʻi Highway (proposed) | Bypass road to Keauhou-Kona |
| 114 | Honalo | (18)* | Māmalahoa Highway | |
| 115 | Honalo | (180) | Kalelei Road | Fuku Bonsai Centre, Hōlualoa |
| 117 | Keauhou-Kona | (185) | Kamehameha III Road | Aliʻi Drive, resort hotels, shopping |
| 120 | Kailua-Kona | (182) | Hualālai Road | This route is mismarked as “180” |
| 122 | Kailua-Kona | [190] | Palani Road | The mauka route of Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 122 | Kailua-Kona | [19] | Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway | The makai route of Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
- HIGHWAY 19
| Mile | Town | |
Street Name | Point(s) of Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hilo | [11] | Kanoelehua Avenue | Banyan Dr., Hilo Bay, Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 2 | Hilo | (200) | Waiʻānuenue Avenue | Downtown Hilo, Rainbow Falls, Saddle Road |
| 13 | Honomū | [220] | Honomū Road | ʻAkaka Falls State Parks |
| 42 | Honokaʻa | [240] | Māmane Street | Hāmākua Coast, Waipiʻo Valley |
| 57 | Waimea | [190] | Māmalahoa Highway | The mauka route of Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 59 | Waiʻaka | [250] | Kohala Mountain Road | HPA, Kahuā Ranch, Hāwī |
| 67 | Kawaihae | [270] | Kawaihae Road / ʻAkoni Pule Highway | Puʻukoholā Heiau, North Kohala District |
| 97 | Kealakehe-Kona | (197) | Kealakehe Parkway | Kealakehe High School, Honokōhau Harbour |
| 100 | Kailua-Kona | [190] | Palani Road | The mauka route of Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 100 | Kailua-Kona | [11] | Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway | Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
- HIGHWAY 190
| Mile | Town | |
Street Name | Point(s) of Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ø | Waimea | [19] | Māmalahoa Highway / Lindsey Road | Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 6 | (Parker Ranch) | (200) | Saddle Road | Waikiʻi, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa |
| 35 | Palani Junction | (180) | Māmalahoa Highway | Honalo |
| 38 | Kailua-Kona | [11] | Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway | Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
| 38 | Kailua-Kona | [19] | Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway | The makai route of Hawaiʻi Belt Road |
