Hawaii Route 200 - History

History

In May 1849, Minister of Finance Gerrit P. Judd proposed building a road directly between the two population centers of the Island of Hawaiʻi. Using prison labor, it started near Holualoa Bay at 19°35′57″N 155°58′26″W / 19.59917°N 155.97389°W / 19.59917; -155.97389 (Judd Road west) and proceeded in a straight line up to the plateau south of Hualālai. After ten years only about 12 miles (19 km) were completed, when work was abandoned at 19°38′38″N 155°45′12″W / 19.64389°N 155.75333°W / 19.64389; -155.75333 (Judd Road east) when the 1859 eruption of Mauna Loa blocked its path. Although destroyed at lower elevations due to residential development, it can still be seen on maps as the "Judd Trail."

While planning for the defense of the Hawaiian islands in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U. S. Army hastily built an access road in 1943 across the Humuʻula plateau of Parker Ranch at 19°41′44″N 155°29′8″W / 19.69556°N 155.48556°W / 19.69556; -155.48556 (Humu‘ula Saddle). Since it was not intended as a civilian road, the simple gravel path was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the US Army Corps of Engineers in case of an invasion. Military vehicles of all types and treads traversed the Island for the next three years.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Army turned over jurisdiction of the road to the Territory of Hawaiʻi and it was designated "State Route 20." However, the territorial government had few funds to maintain the road, let alone upgrade it to civilian standards. Much of the paving dates from 1949.

About the same time, Tom Vance, who had earlier supervised building a highway up Mauna Loa named for Governor Ingram Stainback, secretly used his prison laborers to start a more direct Hilo-Kona road. He started at a camp 19°38′12″N 155°28′52″W / 19.63667°N 155.48111°W / 19.63667; -155.48111 (Vance) (still called "Vance" on USGS maps) which was exactly midway between Hilo and Kealakekua. The road extended in a straight line, heading for the pass between Hualālai and Mauna Loa. In 1950, the camp caught fire after construction reached 19°37′17″N 155°35′57″W / 19.62139°N 155.59917°W / 19.62139; -155.59917 (Hilo-Kona Road). The public refused to allocate more funding when they discovered about US$1 million had already been spent, so the project was also abandoned.

After islands became the State of Hawaii in 1959, Saddle Road was handed to the County of Hawaiʻi and for many years only minimal maintenance was performed, leading to generally poor conditions and the source of the road's notorious reputation.

Since 1992 there has been increased attention on the road, with efforts to rebuild and renovate the highway into a practical cross-island route. This resulted in repaving some sections and complete rebuilding of others.