Kolekole Beach Park, County park in South Hilo District, Hawaii, United States
Kolekole Beach Park is a Hawaii County park in the South Hilo District, near the 14-mile marker, where Kolekole Stream forms an estuary at the ocean. The Hawaii Belt Road crosses above it on a steel girder and truss bridge over 500 ft long. A waterfall on the Kaʻahakini stream drops from a small cliff into the Kolekole, and the stream passes through rainforest with several varieties of orchids.
The steel girder and truss bridge over Kolekole Beach Park was first built as a railroad bridge for sugarcane trains. After the 1946 tsunami, the railroad was abandoned and the bridge was rebuilt for automobiles. E. Claude Moore, a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, designed and executed the plan to reuse the old railroad bridges for the Hawaii Belt Road.
The name Kolekole means "raw or scarred" in the Hawaiian language. Camping in the park is allowed with a permit, and the Hawaii Belt Road crosses above it on a steel girder and truss bridge over 500 ft long.
The park lies in the South Hilo District near the 14-mile marker, where the Hawaii Belt Road crosses on a bridge over 500 ft long. Camping is allowed with a permit. The park reopened on April 24, 2024 after a $6.3 million upgrade and a closure for lead contamination in the lawn soil.
The Hawaii Belt Road crosses the park on a steel girder and truss bridge over 500 ft (150 m) long. It was first built as a railroad bridge for sugarcane trains; after the 1946 tsunami the railway was abandoned and the span was rebuilt for automobiles. E. Claude Moore, a World War II Army Corps of Engineers veteran, designed the plan to reuse the old railroad bridges for the belt road.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,753 contributors worldwide.