Gribblenation

Hawaii Route 19 is part of the Hawaii Belt Road and the second longest State Highway in Hawaii at approximately 107 miles.  The corridor begins at Hawaii Route 11 in Kailua-Kona and loops the northern end of the Big Island to the Port of Hilo.  Hawaii Route 19 is one of the original 1955 era State Highways designated on the Big Island and historically is tied mostly to the Mamalahoa Highway.  Mamalahoa Highway originates from the 1783 Law of the Splintered Paddle which was declared by Kamehameha I.   Much of Hawaii Route 19 along the northern coast of the Big Island is built over the grade of the Hawaii Consolidated Railroad during the 1960s.  Upon the completion of Queen Kaahumanu Highway in 1975 Hawaii Route 19 was realigned onto the then new corridor between Kailua-Kona and Kawaihae Road.  The same alignment shift consumed much of Hawaii Route 26 and a portion of Hawaii Route 25 to Waimea.  The originally Kailua-Kona-to-Waimea of Hawaii Route 19 was subsequently renumbered to Hawaii