Hana Highway

The Hana Highway (colloquially referred to as The Road to Hana) is a 64.4-mile-long (103.6 km) stretch of Hawaii Routes 36 and 360 which connects Kahului to the town of Hana in east Maui. To the east of Kalepa Bridge, the highway continues to Kipahulu as Hawaii Route 31 (the Piilani Highway). Although Hana is only about 52 miles (84 km) from Kahului, an uninterrupted car-trip takes about 2.5 hours to drive, since the highway is very windy, narrow, and passes over 59 bridges, of which 46 are only one lane wide.[5] There are approximately 620 curves along Route 360 from just east of Kahului to Hana, almost all of it through lush, tropical rainforest. Many of the concrete and steel bridges date back to 1910 and all but one are still in use. That one bridge, badly damaged by erosion, has been replaced by a portable steel ACROW bridge erected by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Hana Highway
Hana Millennium Legacy Trail
Hana Highway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by HDOT
Length	64.40 mi[1][2][3] (103.64 km)
Component highways	Route 36 from Kahului to Haiku-Pauwela Route 360 from Haiku-Pauwela to Kalepa Gulch
Major junctions
West end	Route 32 in Kahului
East end	Route 31 in Haleakalā Nat'l Park
Location
Counties	Maui
Highway system
Routes in Hawaii ← Route 32B → Route 36A ← Route 340 → Route 361
Hana Belt Road
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
The Hana Highway Millennium Trail Monument and the Zero Mile Marker (under the Adopt-a-Highway sign) at the Junction of Route 36/360/365.
Nearest city	Makawao, Hawaii
Coordinates	20°53′52″N 156°13′20″W
Area	153 acres (62 ha)
Built	1900
Architectural style	Basalt arch, et al.
NRHP reference No.	01000615[4]
Added to NRHP	June 15, 2001

Wailua Valley State Wayside along the Road To Hana.

In August 2000, the highway was designated as the Hana Millennium Legacy Trail by President Bill Clinton, with the trail start designated in Pāʻia.[5] The Hana Highway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 15, 2001.[4]

Tourism

The Hana Highway is a popular tourist attraction in Maui. Guidebooks often devote large sections to traveling the highway leading to the eastern side of Maui, documenting the many waterfalls and attractions that can be found along the way. Some of these attractions lie within or through private property and will often have "no trespassing" signs posted or even signs claiming that the attraction does not exist. All beaches in Hawaii are public. Some guidebooks document the "keep out" areas and ways past barbed wire fences and locked gates to reach attractions.

Beyond the town of Hana, the Hana Highway becomes Hawaii State Road 330 and leads to the ʻOheʻo Gulch where the Seven Sacred Pools are located within the Kipahulu Area of the Haleakala National Park.

Occasionally the dirt road past Route 31 is closed to traffic due to landslides. However, although it is somewhat rough in places, it is by no means a daunting or particularly dangerous road if taken slowly.

Scenic turnouts abound, including one for Wailua Falls near the Seven Sacred Pools in Oheʻo.

History

In the sixteenth century, Maui's King Pi'ilani conquered East Maui and drew Hana into his political sphere. Pi'ilani built the Alaloa, the "long road," from West Maui, a road on which travelers reportedly swung themselves over East Maui's rushing streams with ropes made of vines. Later, Piilani's son, Kihapiilani, extended the Alaloa into the Hana District. When completed, the road was 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 m) wide, 138 miles (222 km), and paved with hand-fitted basalt (lava) rocks.[6] Modern road construction to Hana began in the 1870s, with an unpaved road built to facilitate the construction of the Hämäkua Ditch. Part of The East Maui Irrigation System, the Hämäkua Ditch brought water from the rainforests of Haleakalā to semi-arid central Maui to support the sugarcane industry.[7]

Road construction continued in the early 1900s and was extended piecemeal until the full road to Hana was officially opened on December 18, 1926. Construction of bridges continued through the 1930s and the road was not completely paved until the 1960s.[6]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Maui County.

Location	mi[1][2][3]	km	Destinations	Notes
Kahului	0.0	0.0	Route 32 (Kaahumanu Avenue)	Northern terminus of Route 36, western terminus of Hana Highway
	0.2	0.32	Route 32A north (Kamehameha Avenue)	No southbound access, southern terminus of Route 32A
	0.6	0.97	Route 36A east (Haleakala Highway) – Airport	Western terminus of Route 36A
	0.9	1.4	Route 380 (Dairy Road) – Airport, Kihei, Lahaina
	2.9	4.7	Route 37 (Haleakala Highway) – Airport, Pukalani, Makawao, Kula
Paia	6.7	10.8	Baldwin Avenue – Makawao
​	16.2	26.1	Route 365 south (Kaupakalua Road) Route 36 / Route 360	Northern terminus of Route 365 Eastern terminus of Route 36, western terminus of Route 360
Keanae	32.8	52.8	Keanae Road – Keanae
Hana	47.6	76.6	Alalele Road – Hana Airport
	48.1	77.4	Honokalani Road – Waianapanapa State Park
	49.9	80.3	Uakea Road – Hana Bay
	50.6	81.4	Keawa Place – Hana Bay	Former terminus of state maintenance
Hamoa Beach	52.4	84.3	Haneoo Road – Hamoa Beach, Koki Beach
Haleakala National Park	60.7	97.7	Haleakala National Park – Kipahulu Area	Access to Oheʻo Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools)
Kalepa Gulch	64.4	103.6	Kalepa Bridge
			Route 31 west (Piilani Highway)	Eastern terminus of Route 360 and the Hana Highway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Route transition

Gallery

• 
  Section of highway between Nahiku and Waianapanapa State Park
• 
  Waterfalls adjacent to Hana Highway
• 
  Aerial view of highway
• 
  Wailua Falls
• 
  Upper Waikani Falls Maui Hawaii
• 
  Hana Lava tube Maui, Hawaii
• 
  Highway between Haiku and Kaipahulu
• 
  Waianapanapa black sand beach next to Hana
• 
  Kahanu garden old house Maui, Road to Hana
• 
  Finally Hana, Maui

References

1. Google (August 28, 2014). "Hana Highway (1)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
2. Microsoft; Nokia (August 28, 2014). "Hana Highway (2)" (Map). Bing Maps. Microsoft. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
3. Google (August 28, 2014). "Hana Highway (3)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
5. Kubota, Gary T. (October 27, 2000). "On the road to... Hana". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
6. "Historic American Engineering Record, Hana Belt Road, HAER No. HI-75" (PDF). Library of Congress. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 2005. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
7. Duensing, Dawn (2007). "The Hana Belt Road: Paving the Way for Tourism" (PDF). Hawaiian Journal of History. Hawaiian Historical Society. 41. Retrieved January 13, 2016.

External links

• Road to Hana Tips, The Official Maui Information Guide, 2007
• On the Road to Hana, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 27, 2000

Browse numbered routes
← Route 32B		→ Route 36A
← Route 340		→ Route 361