Prior to the 1970s, the only means of driving to North Kohala District was along the winding, narrow Kohala Mountain Road (then Route 25, now 250). The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation already had plans for a coastal Route 11 along the Kohala Peninsula in the early-1960s to connect with Routes 25 and 27 in Hāwī. However, about the only action taken over the next ten years was the reässignment of highway shield numbers and assigning number 270 to the proposed highway.