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The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

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The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate. 



The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11

Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Kamehameha Avenue near Hilo Bay and Hilo International Airport. 

Mamalahoa Highway was declared by royal decree in 1783 via the Law of the Splintered Paddle.  The law was conceived based off an incident Kamehameha I was part of along the Puna coast.  During said incident Kamehameha I and his men were conducting a shoreline raid when they encountered two Puna fisherman.  While pursuing the fisherman across a lava field one of Kamehameha's feet was caught in a rock.  The fishermen seized upon the opportunity to retaliate and struck Kamehameha in the head with a wooden paddle. 

Kamehameha opted to not retaliate against the fisherman and used the incident as the basis of the Law of the Splintered Paddle.  The law essentially guaranteed safe passage to all travelers across the Hawaiian Islands and was used as a basis of Mamalahoa Highway on the Big Island.  The highway corridor was rapidly developed across the Big Island and was mostly annexed as early automotive roads.  

In 1955 the Hawaii Route System was modified and expanded to the Big Island.  The southern half of Mamalahoa Highway from Kailua-Kona to Hilo was assigned Hawaii Route 11.  The early routing of Hawaii Route 11 can be seen on the 1959 Gousha Map of Hawaii.      



Specific only to the 1959 Gousha Map of Hawaii an oddity along Hawaii Route 11 is shown east of Hawaii Volcanos National Park east towards Glenwood.  The corridor is displayed as "Temporary Hawaii Route 11" and part of Hawaii Route 144.  


The reference appears to refer to the original routing of Hawaii Route 11 along what is now Old Volcano Road east of the Hawaii Volcanos National Park boundary.  The original alignment of Hawaii Route 11 appears on the Old Volcano Road corridor on the 1964 United States Geological Survey map (courtesy historicaerials.com) of Volcano Village.  The map however does not indicate any reference to Hawaii Route 144.  Within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park the highway was shifted off of northern Crater Rim Drive to a bypass in 1961. 


There are two likely possibilities to account for why Hawaii Route 144 appears on the 1959 Gousha map of Hawaii.  The corridor of Volcano Road could have been for a time assigned as Federal Aid Program 144 whereas the planned realignment of Hawaii Route 11 would have been Federal Aid Program 11.  There is no known documentation supporting that a Federal Aid Program 144 existed on the Big Island for any road related project.  

The second possibility is that the Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 references were a form of copyright protection by Gousha.  During the 1950s era it was common for map makers to place intentional errors in an attempt to detect counterfeiting.  

The alignment of Hawaii Route 11 was shifted off of Volcano Road sometime during the 1960s or early 1970s.  The modern highway can be seen branching from Old Volcano Road east of the National Park boundary below.  Old Volcano Road serves the community of Volcano Village. 




Volcano Village was founded in 1894 following the improvement of Mamalahoa Highway (alternatively Old Volcano Trail) between Hilo and the Kilauea caldera.  Early Volcano Village served as a stage station for travelers departing the Hilo Railroad station in Glenwood (starting in 1901).  During 1916 the community would see a rise in prominence following Hawaii Volcanos National Park being declared.  The Volcano Road of Mamalahoa Highway was improved to automotive standards with the installation of a concrete surface circa 1927-1928
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