Skip to main content

Hawaii County Route 180 (former Hawaii Route 18)

By

Hawaii County Route 180 is an approximately 9.1-mile segment of the Big Island's Mamalahoa Highway.  The corridor was designated as Hawaii Route 18 during 1955.  As originally configured the highway spanned from Hawaii Route 11 north to Hawaii Route 19 near Palani Junction.  Hawaii Route 18 was removed from the State Highway System during the late 1970s and redesignated as Hawaii County Route 180 following a realignment of Hawaii Route 11 south of Kailua-Kona.  




Part 1; the history of Hawaii County Route 180

Hawaii County Route 180 is part of Mamalahoa Highway which was part of the original Big Island belt road and once Hawaii Route 18.  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 majority of Mamalahoa Highway was designated as parts of Hawaii Routes 11 and 19 except for around Kailua-Kona.  Hawaii Route 11 entered Kailua-Kona via Kuakini Highway where it met Hawaii Route 19 at Palani Drive.  The portion of Mamalahoa Highway not serving Kailua-Kong was assigned as Hawaii Route 18. 

Hawaii Route 18 can be seen on the 1959 Gousha map of Hawaii.  The highway is shown beginning at Hawaii Route 11 near Keauhou and terminating to the north at Hawaii Route 19/Palani Junction near Honokohau.


The first map to display Hawaii Route 18 reassigned as Hawaii County Route 180 is the 1983 United States Geological Survey map of Kailua-Kona (at Palani Junction, courtesy historicaerials.com).


Hawaii Route 18 was likely dropped from the State Highway System following the extension of Queen Kaahumanu Highway in 1976 south of Palani Drive (Hawaii Route 18) south to Mamalahoa Highway near Captain Cook.  This extension realigned Hawaii Route 11 off of Kuakini Highway.  


Part 2; a drive on Hawaii County Route 180

Southbound Hawaii County Route 180 begins at Hawaii Route 190 at Palani Junction.  Mamalahoa Highway is carried from Hawaii Route 190 onto Hawaii County Route 180 towards Holualoa.  Hawaii Route 190 continues south on Palani Drive to Hawaii Route 11 and Hawaii Route 19 in Kailua-Kona. 



Southbound Hawaii County Route 180 traffic is warned of 4.5 miles of winding road ahead to Holualoa.
























Southbound Hawaii County Route 180 passes through the heart of Holualoa and intersects Hawaii County Route 182 at Hualalai Road. 






Hawaii County Route 180 continues south on Mamalahoa Highway to Haawina Street where Hawaii Route 18 would have once ended at Hawaii Route 11.  Hawaii County Route 180 makes a brief jog west on Haawina Street to now reaches the modern alignment of Hawaii Route 11 at Queen Kaahumanu Highway.  















Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
3 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more