{{short description|State highway in Hawaii, United States}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox road |state=HI |type=HI |route=137 |alternate_name=Kapoho-Kalapana Road |map={{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=290|frame-height=240|type=line|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Wikipedia KML/Hawaii Route 137}}}} |map_custom=yes |map_notes=Route&nbsp;137 highlighted in red |length_mi=9.6 |length_ref=<ref name="google">{{Google maps |title=Hawaii Route 137 |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/19.3625581,-154.9667398/19.5079779,-154.834797/@19.4217788,-154.9871808,33447m/am=t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0!5m1!1e1?shorturl=1 |accessdate=May 21, 2018}}</ref> |established= |direction_a=West |terminus_a=Pahoa Kalapana Road |direction_b=East |terminus_b={{Jct|state=HI|HI|132}} near Kapoho |previous_type=HI |previous_route=132 |next_type=HI |next_route=139 }}

'''Route 137''' is a state highway in Hawaii County, Hawaii. The highway, known as the Kapoho-Kalapana Road, the Beach Road, or the Red Road,<ref name="HSA-2018">{{cite news |last=Pang |first=Gordon Y.K. |date=May 19, 2018 |title=Lava crosses Highway 137 and enters ocean |url=http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/05/19/breaking-news/small-explosive-event-creates-light-ash-concerns-for-pahala/ |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |accessdate=May 21, 2018}}</ref> travels along the eastern coast of the island of Hawaii between Kalapana and Kapoho.<ref name="google"/> It passes near Kīlauea and its lava fields, as well as Isaac Hale Beach Park and other protected areas.

==Route description== [[File:The Red Road - panoramio (4).jpg|thumb|A section of the Red Road with pavement still containing Hawaiian volcanic red cinder, never having been repaved with black asphalt (2012)]]

Route 137 travels along the Pacific Ocean, near the flat flanks of Kīlauea, and through lava fields, as well as by Isaac Hale Beach Park and other protected areas. Locally it is known as the '''Red Road''' due to its long having been paved with Hawaiian volcanic red cinder;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs/hawaii_today/2013/11/1/red_cinder_road_big_island_hawaii|title=Ode to Red Cinder Road: Driving the Big Island's hidden coastal highway|date=November 2013}}</ref> most of it was paved with black asphalt in 2000 but it is still called the Red Road.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.to-hawaii.com/big-island/scenicdrives/redroad.php|title = Red Road, Big Island}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/hawaii/red-road|title=Puna travel}}</ref> It is a designated scenic byway with ocean vistas.

==History==

Several lava flows from Kīlauea have crossed sections of the highway en route to the Pacific Ocean. The 1990 lava flow that destroyed Kalapana moved along Highway 137.<ref>{{cite news |last=Clark |first=Hugh |date=July 24, 1990 |title=Inmates aid lava victim |page=A3 |work=Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20342864/kalapana_lava_flow/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=May 24, 2018}}</ref> During the 2018 lower Puna eruption of Kīlauea's East rift zone, a lava flow from Fissure 20 buried a section of Route 137 between Kamaili Road and Pohoiki Road<ref name="HSA-2018"/> and flows from Fissure 8 flowed east across and along Hawaii Route 132, cutting more of Route 137 in the vicinity of Kapoho.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38356471/kapoho-bay-playground-for-big-islanders-and-many-others-is-lost-to-lava |title=Kapoho Bay, playground for Big Islanders and many others, is lost to lava |date=June 6, 2018 |author=HNN Staff |newspaper=Hawaii News Now |accessdate=July 18, 2018}}</ref>

==Major intersections== {{jcttop|state=HI|county=Hawaii|length_ref=<ref name="google"/>}} {{HIint |location=none |mile=0.0 |road=Pahoa Kalapana Road |notes=Western terminus}} {{HIint |location=none |mile=9.6 |road={{jct|state=HI|HI|132}} |notes=Eastern terminus}} {{jctbtm}}

==Appearances in art== Artist Arthur Johnsen (1952–2015), a resident of Lower Puna, depicted vistas of the Red Road in numerous ''plein-air'' impressionistic oil paintings. Many of these paintings were anthologized by the East Hawaii Cultural Center and the Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art, in a 2014 book titled ''Paintings of the Red Road by Arthur Johnsen''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Book sales benefit Hilo art museum |url=http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2015/11/12/hawaii-news/book-sales-benefit-hilo-art-museum/ |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |date=November 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Paintings of the Red Road by Arthur Johnsen |url=http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174655/http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf |publisher=EHCC/Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art Publishers |archivedate=August 31, 2018 |date=2014}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Attached KML|display=title,inline}} {{Commons category|Hawaii Route 137}} * {{cite web |title=''Paintings of the Red Road by Arthur Johnsen'' |url=http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174655/http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2018-08-31 |author=Arthur Johnsen |author-link=Arthur Johnsen |publisher=EHCC/Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art Publishers |date=2014}} * [http://hwy137redroad.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CMP-_Narrative.pdf HWY 137 – Red Road Scenic Byway, Kapoho–Kaimu – Corridor Management Plan 2015] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222180718/http://hwy137redroad.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CMP-_Narrative.pdf |date=2016-12-22 }}

0137 Category:Transportation in Hawaii County, Hawaii Category:Scenic highways in the United States

{{hawaii-road-stub}}