New Zealand State Highway 1

State Highway SH1 in New Zealand
map
Basic data
Operator:	New Zealand Transport Agency
Start of the street:	Cape Reinga ( 34 ° 26 ′  S , 172 ° 41 ′  E )
End of street:	Bluff ( 46 ° 37 ′  S , 168 ° 21 ′  E )
Overall length:	2047 km
Regions :	North Island: Northland Auckland Waikato Manawatu-Wanganui Wellington South Island: Tasman Canterbury Otago Southland
State Highway 1, as the Auckland Southern Motorway in northern Manukau City  Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap map

The New Zealand State Highway 1 ( State Highway 1 or SH 1 for short ) is a national highway on the North and South Islands of New Zealand .

geography

The trunk road is the longest and most important road in the country and runs in a north-south direction across both main islands. Therefore, the road is divided into two sections, the SH 1N on the North Island and the SH 1S on the South Island. However, State Highway 1 appears as SH 1 on road signs and on maps . The total length of the road is 2047 km, of which 1106 km on the North Island and 941 km on the South Island. The kilometers are set separately for each island from north to south.

The SH 1 is for the most part a street with one lane in each direction of travel with intersections and property entrances, so it corresponds roughly to a federal road / main road . There are overtaking lanes at intervals on these sections. Five percent have been expanded to two lanes. In the Auckland , Wellington , Christchurch and Dunedin areas , a total of six percent of the road is developed as a motorway.

North island

The highway begins in the north at Cape Reinga . Since the last northern stretch of the road was paved in April 2010, State Highway 1 has now consisted of a paved road for its entire length. Coming from the north, the road runs along the east side of the Aupōuri Peninsula to Awanui . State Highway 10 branches off here . This runs near the north coast and joins the SH 1 again at Pakaraka . After a further eight kilometers, the SH 1 reaches Kaitaia and now runs diagonally in a south-easterly direction over the north of the Northland Peninsula to the area of ​​the Bay of Islands . Just before he reached them, branches in Ohaeawai of State Highway 12 to the west and the SH 10 combines eight kilometers at Pakaraka again with the SH1 .

Now the road runs inland about 10-20 km from the east coast to Whangarei . State Highway 14 goes off here towards Dargaville . The SH 1, however, continues south to Brynderwyn , where the SH 12 joins the SH 1 again and continues to Wellsford . State Highway 16 , which runs on the west coast of the Northland Peninsula, branches off here . The SH 1 now runs 20 km in a south-easterly direction to Warkworth , passes the branch of the SH 17 to the coast south of Puhoi and passes Orewa a certain distance west . On this section the SH 1 becomes the Auckland Northern Motorway, which is also subject to a toll. This runs through the suburbs of Auckland, which is part of North Shore City, and crosses the approach to Waitemata Harbor in downtown Auckland on the Auckland Harbor Bridge . This section is considered to be the busiest and most congested road in the country. The motorway triangle between SH 1 and SH 16 , known as the Central Motorway Junction , was used by over 200,000 vehicles per day in March (????). The course of the road in Victoria Park in the center of Auckland has been a particular bottleneck for years. Therefore, on November 14, 2011 the Victoria Park Tunnel was opened. Since then, traffic has been divided into two parts: In the north, the vehicles are directed through the single-tube tunnel, in the south, the traffic continues above ground on the old route.

Parts of this article seem out of date as of 2012 .
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

To this end, the above-ground route is to be rebuilt by January 2012 so that there is only one directional lane.

From Auckland the highway runs south and is called Auckland Southern Motorway . 50 km south of the harbor bridge, it becomes an expressway with two lanes. Shortly thereafter, State Highway 2 branches off to the east, while SH 1 runs south towards Mercer . From there it follows the course of the Waikato River through Hamilton . Here State Highway 3 branches off to the southwest, while the SH turns to the southeast and runs through Cambridge and along Lake Karapiro . A NZ $ 650 million project to upgrade the 160 km section between Auckland and Cambridge into a two-lane expressway, the Waikato Expressway , was halfway completed in early 2006. State Highway 5 begins in Tirau to the east, SH 1 continues south through Tokoroa and extensive forest areas to Taupo on the northeastern bank of Lake Taupo . It grazes the eastern shore of the lake as far as Turangi at the southern end of the lake.

South of Turangi, the road crosses the Central Volcanic Plateau and the Rangipo Desert to Waiouru . This 52 km long section is a desert road ( desert road known) and often closed in winter because of too much snow. The highest point of the Desert Road is 1074 m above sea level, this is the highest point of the entire New Zealand highway network. From the road there are views of the three volcanoes Mount Tongariro , Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu . From Waiouru, the road descends to Taihape and Mangaweka , following the Rangitikei River in a south-westerly direction . The SH 3 runs over a distance of three kilometers between Bulls and Sanson together with the SH 1 over the Manawatu Plain . Then the SH 1 crosses Foxton and Levin .

As a two-lane road near Levin

In Ohau , four kilometers south of Levin, State Highway 54 branches off to the northeast. The SH 1 follows the narrowing coastal plain on the west coast through Otaki , Paekakariki and Plimmerton . Difficult terrain and a large number of satellite cities make the route sensitive to traffic jams and accidents. From Porirua the road becomes the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway and runs through Wellington's northern suburbs. At the end of the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway in Newlands , SH 1 becomes the Centennial Highway . This runs through the Ngauranga Gorge . Two kilometers later, SH 1 and State Highway 2 meet . The SH 1 is now becoming the inner-city Wellington Urban Motorway . The freeway ends on Willis Street and continues through the eastern suburbs. It ends in a roundabout at the entrance to Wellington International Airport .

The connection to the southern part of the highway is provided by ferry connections over the Cook Strait , which run between Wellington and Picton in the Marlborough Sounds . These are not part of the expressway system, although there have been advances in this direction to give the government more influence in the event of possible strikes.

South island

From the ferry terminal in Picton the road climbs steeply and crosses a mountain saddle into the valley of the Tuamarina River . She descends in the valley of this river and crosses the Wairau Plain . From Blenheim it largely follows the coastline and passes the steeply towering Kaikoura Ranges . This section is considered to be one of the most beautiful. The Pacific is on one side and the 2,500 m high peaks on the other. After Kaikoura , the road turns inland, winds through the Hundalee Ranges, and then meets the north end of the Canterbury Plains .

The highway passes Waipara , where State Highway 7 branches off and after another eleven kilometers Amberley . It then becomes the Christchurch Northern Motorway . This highway passes Kaiapoi and ends north of Styx. The SH 1 bypasses Christchurch in the northwest. South of the city it runs almost in a straight line over the wide alluvial cone of the Canterbury Plains. In Rakaia , he crosses the Rakaia River on the longest road bridge in the country and then reaches Ashburton . In Timaru he reaches the coast again. Between Ashburton and Timaru, it crosses the Rangitata Island in the Rangitata River .

From Timaru the road follows the coast, crosses the Waitaki River and reaches Oamaru . Now she crosses the hill country of northern Otago . South of Waikouaiti , the road climbs steeply over the Kilmog hill and drops back down to the coast. Then it rises again and becomes the expressway to the northern suburbs of Dunedin . There it drops steeply, passes the University of Otago and the city center. For much of the route through Dunedin, the highway consists of two separate two-way streets that are part of the city's one-way network. A two-lane highway runs through the southern suburbs to the connection with State Highway 87 in Mosgiel . The SH 1 continues southeast towards Balclutha , crosses the Clutha River over the Balclutha Road Bridge and then turns west to avoid the steep hills of the Catlins . In Gore it runs south again and then from Edendale southwest to Invercargill . There it ends at Stirling Point , one kilometer south of Bluff .

Route changes

A larger section between Allanton and the Taieri River had already been retraced in the 1970s. Since Transit New Zealand took over the administration of the State Highways in 1989, the route has been changed in a few other places. In Whangarei, Hamilton, Christchurch and Timaru, the route leading through the city center was relocated to the suburbs, the old route continues to be used as a road or has been given a new number as a highway in Christchurch. A bypass around Fairfield was built for the Dunedin Southern Motorway .

In the south of the South Island, several particularly winding sections were renewed in order to avoid sharp curves and to improve the road conditions. These include sections at Normanby , near Timaru, Waianakarua , Tumai , Palmerston and on the Dunedin Northern Motorway at Waitati .

Branch lines

The SH 1 has two branches on the North Island. The SH 1A bypasses Orewa, the SH 1B bypasses Hamilton between Taupiri and Cambridge.

literature

• New Zealand Travel Atlas . Wise Maps, Auckland 2004, ISBN 0-908794-47-9 .

Web links

Commons : State Highway 1 (New Zealand)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Final few meters of SH1 sealed , New Zealand Herald April 22, 2010, accessed December 19, 2015.
2. ↑ Transport New Zealand press release of November 14, 2011.
3. ↑ Malcolm McKinnon : Volcanic Plateau region - Overview . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , May 25, 2015, accessed May 6, 2019 .