Hawaii Highway Question

[OCGuy81]

Recently returned from a trip to Kauai, and was curious if something I observed is seen on the other islands as well (it's been a while since I've been to Maui and Hawaii's Big Island)

Overall, signage is really well done.  Routes are marked well, and there is nice use of reassurance markers.

Kauai, I noticed, likes to have sudden changes in highway designations, however.  These are two I noticed and I can't figure out why the route number would suddenly change.

- In Lihue (the town with the airport) Hi-51, is a route that heads directly into town where as 50/56 bypasses it more or less.  Hi-51 changes, for no apparent reason, to Hi-58 on the south end of Lihue. 

- At Princeville, on the north end of the island, Hi-56 ends, and Hi-560 begins for the 7-8 miles to the road's end at Ke'e Beach.  Again, not sure why 56 could just continue all the way.

Were these highways perhaps built at different times and later connected, hence the change in numbering?

[1995hoo]

Apparently Route 560 was once part of Route 56 but was downgraded. I think Oscar is familiar with the history of Hawaii's numbering system. You might consider sending him a PM to call his attention to this thread.

[oscar]

Kauai has the best signage of all the Hawaiian islands, for both state and county highways.

HI 56 is a primary highway.  It changes in Princeville to HI 560, a secondary highway, right before the sharp switchback into the Hanalei Valley, and all the one-lane bridges begin.  The highway's name stays the same, but the change from primary to secondary requires a number change under HDOT's numbering system.

HI 51 and 58 are both primary highways, but 58 started off as secondary highway 501, while 51 came later (new construction north of the airport, middle segment started as 510, south end transferred from HI 50).  Both 51 and 58 are alternate accesses from different directions to HDOT-operated Nawiliwili Harbor (the harbor entrance is at the 51/58 junction), and HDOT makes a point of connecting its harbors to the state highway system.  Both HI 51 and HI 58 are really bypasses of downtown Lihue, which is more directly served by HI 50 and HI 56.

As for the changeover from HI 50 to HI 56, HI 50 used to continue along Rice Street through downtown to the harbor (part was added to HI 51, the rest became an unnumbered county route).  By the time Rice Street was removed from HI 50, 50 and 56 were too well established (plus they have different names) to think about folding one into the other.

[OCGuy81]

Thanks Oscar. That's really good information!

[jeffandnicole]

What I found most interesting about 56 is how they cone off the contraflow lane each morning, including signage.  And it's not just a simple converting of a travel lane, but they need to cone off turning lanes and such as well.  Interesting but well done...every day!

http://goo.gl/maps/qP1j5

[1995hoo]

What I found most interesting about 56 is how they cone off the contraflow lane each morning, including signage.  And it's not just a simple converting of a travel lane, but they need to cone off turning lanes and such as well.  Interesting but well done...every day!

http://goo.gl/maps/qP1j5

Something I had forgotten about until I looked at the Street View image you linked is the way they have a small area in the middle of the road for people to stop and wait when they're turning left ONTO Kuhio Highway. Here in Virginia we'll often use two-way left-turn lanes as a staging area for that sort of thing (that is, turn left from the connecting street into the TWLTL, then wait for a gap in traffic). Hawaii striped the road with a small area for waiting and I remember liking it when we visited there.

I'd love to go back again, but we just haven't had the money. Some friends of my wife's used to live on Wailua Road just off Kuhio Highway (more or less across from the Coco Palms), but unfortunately they moved to California a few years ago.

[OCGuy81]

What I found most interesting about 56 is how they cone off the contraflow lane each morning, including signage.  And it's not just a simple converting of a travel lane, but they need to cone off turning lanes and such as well.  Interesting but well done...every day!

That was really cool! And it helped going from Princeville to Poipu, which involved going through the traffic snarl that is Kapa'a. 

Last time we went to Hawaii, it was the Big Island, and I didn't see anything like that there.

[oscar]

What I found most interesting about 56 is how they cone off the contraflow lane each morning, including signage.  And it's not just a simple converting of a travel lane, but they need to cone off turning lanes and such as well.  Interesting but well done...every day!

That was really cool! And it helped going from Princeville to Poipu, which involved going through the traffic snarl that is Kapa'a. 

Last time we went to Hawaii, it was the Big Island, and I didn't see anything like that there.

Oahu leans heavily on contraflow lanes to make up for not enough lanes, most notably the barrier-separated zipper lane on Interstate H-1, and contraflow on HI 92 from H-1 to downtown. 

The other islands don't need it, though Maui comes close.

[hm insulators]

Where did you stay on Kauai, OCGuy81? I used to live in Koloa, the small town just a couple of miles inland, or mauka of Poipu thirty years ago. Not real long ago, thanks to Google Earth, I did a virtual drive from Lihue to Poipu and was amazed at all the changes! Especially the lush forests where there used to be miles of sugar cane fields.

[mrsman]

What I found most interesting about 56 is how they cone off the contraflow lane each morning, including signage.  And it's not just a simple converting of a travel lane, but they need to cone off turning lanes and such as well.  Interesting but well done...every day!

http://goo.gl/maps/qP1j5

Something I had forgotten about until I looked at the Street View image you linked is the way they have a small area in the middle of the road for people to stop and wait when they're turning left ONTO Kuhio Highway. Here in Virginia we'll often use two-way left-turn lanes as a staging area for that sort of thing (that is, turn left from the connecting street into the TWLTL, then wait for a gap in traffic). Hawaii striped the road with a small area for waiting and I remember liking it when we visited there.

It seems that road painting of a left turn lane in that way would only work if the driveways off the highway were on only one side of the highway.  From the picture, there is a driveway only on the east side of the road, so the left turn lane can briefly convert to a "merge into traffic" lane.

[OCGuy81]

Where did you stay on Kauai, OCGuy81? I used to live in Koloa, the small town just a couple of miles inland, or mauka of Poipu thirty years ago. Not real long ago, thanks to Google Earth, I did a virtual drive from Lihue to Poipu and was amazed at all the changes! Especially the lush forests where there used to be miles of sugar cane fields.

Sorry hm for the delayed response.

We split our time while over there, doing 4 nights up in Princeville, and then 2 nights down in Poipu at the Hyatt there.  My kids love all the pools that place has!

Best drive there, IMO, was the drive up into Waimea Canyon.  It's a long drive to the first lookout point, but worth it!

[hm insulators]

Amazing the changes to the island's landscape, from lush green rainforest at Princeville to near-desert at the foot of Waimea Canyon Road, thanks to the weather patterns.