New Zealand State Highway 6

State Highway SH6 in New Zealand
map
Basic data
Operator:	New Zealand Transport Agency
Start of the street:	Blenheim ( 41 ° 30 ′  S , 173 ° 58 ′  E )
End of street:	Invercargill ( 44 ° 25 ′  S , 168 ° 21 ′  E )
Overall length:	1162 km
Regions :	Marlborough Nelson Tasman West coast Otago Southland
Development condition:	2 × 1 lane, two lanes in Nelson and Invercargill, one lane over different bridges
State Highway 6 at Woodpecker Bay on the coast of the West Coast region  Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap map

The New Zealand State Highway 6 ( State Highway 6 or SH 6 for short ) is a trunk road of national importance on the South Island of New Zealand .

geography

The trunk road has a length of 1162 km and extends from the north-west of the South Island initially across the northern part of the island. Once on the west coast, the road runs along the coast, then crosses the New Zealand Alps and the highlands of the Otago region for the last third, and finally follows through the Southland Plains towards the south coast of the South Island. The kilometers of the road run from north to south. The highway is the longest straight road in the country, as the longer State Highway 1 is divided into two stretches over the North and South Islands.

The SH 6 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 . In Invercargill and Nelson , there are two lanes in each direction. The SH 6 had several combined road and rail bridges, many of which no longer exist today.

route

Nelson / Marlborough

The highway branches off from SH 1 in Blenheim and initially runs northeast through the impassable hills at the base of the Marlborough Sounds . He only touches the sounds briefly in Havelock , then the road runs up the valley of the Pelorus River inland. At Pelorus Bridge , the highway turns north, then southwest, and approaches the coast of Tasman Bay . The SH 6 crosses the city of Nelson and the nearby city of Richmond . Then it continues its course southwest across the plains of the Wairoa River and Motueka River .

From here the road climbs rapidly and reaches the 613 m high Hope Saddle . From here the highway runs west along the Buller River valley and its tributaries.

After Murchison , the valley narrows and becomes the picturesque Buller Gorge . The highway meanders high above the water. In the gorge of the Buller River, a single-lane half tunnel, Hawk's Crag , was blasted out of the massive rock before 1900 .

West coast

The SH 6 leaves the widening river and turns south six kilometers from Westport , where the river meets the sea. Now the road from Charleston follows the coastline for more than 100 km. It only briefly runs inland near Runanga . There are two larger towns on this section, Greymouth and Hokitika .

From Hokitika on, the highway no longer runs directly on the coast, but is usually less than five kilometers from the coastline. It now runs south over Ross , past Lake Ianthe and through Harihari , crosses state forests and crosses several rivers, including the Mikoniui River , Waitaha River and Wanganui River . The highway crosses the latter river about 30 km from the mouth and makes a turn from south to west. About ten kilometers after Harihari he turns back to the southwest and crosses the Waitaroa River , also about 30 km from the mouth. Now the highway runs west through Whataroa and reaches The Forks . There it turns south and runs, at times along the east bank of Lake Mapourika , via Tatara to the tourist resort of Franz Josef / Waiau , from where the Franz Josef Glacier in the nearby Southern Alps can be reached on foot. A second glacier, the Fox Glacier , is about 20 km further south. There is also a settlement here, Fox Glacier , on SH 6 .

The SH 6 crosses the Karangarua River and Makawhiro River and briefly touches the coast at Bruce Bay . Now it bypasses the mouth of the Paringa River and Lake Paringa and is up to 15 km away from the sea. At Knights Point he reaches the sea again and follows the coast to Haast . The terrain in this 30 km long section is known for its rugged appearance. After crossing the Haast River , the road turns east and ascends the valley of the river, passes the Gates of Haast and crosses the 563 m high Haast Pass , the southernmost of the three important southern Alpine crossings . The 737 m long bridge over the Haast River at km 750 is the longest single-lane bridge in New Zealand. It has two alternative bays.

Otago

From its ascent from the Haast River valley, SH 6 now runs south and follows the Makarora River valley down to the southern tip of Lake Wanaka . The road now leads along its east coast, crossing " The Neck ", a mountain saddle between Lakes Wanaka and Lake Hāwea . Now it follows the west coast of the lake, then southwest of the Cardrona River to Albert Town near the Wanaka tourist center .

State Highway 6 at Nevis Bluff

State Highway 6 brushes the slopes of " The Remarkables " and the coast of "Lake Wakatipu" south of Queenstown.

Ten kilometers from Wanaka, the SH 8a connects to the SH 8 , which runs here on the east coast of Lake Dunstan . The SH 6 , however, runs in a southerly direction on its west coast. Near Cromwell at the southern end of the lake, there is a second road connecting both highways, the SH 8B. After Cromwell, the SH 6 turns west and follows the narrow, winding Kawarau Gorge . He leaves this near the Gibbston wine-growing region .

At the western end of the Kawarau Gorge, midway between Cromwell and Queenstown, happened the SH 6 the Nevis Bluff , a towering mica slate rock , 100 meters above the Kawarau River rises. At this point the highway has been closed several times because of the instability of the terrain and rocky slopes. The first road around Nevis Bluff was built in 1866 and allowed access to the Wakatipu gold fields. On February 20, 1940 there were major rockfalls, and SH 6 was also blocked in June 1975 . On September 17, 2000, a large rock ledge buried the highway and several motorists barely escaped death. The rock fall was recorded on video and reached a volume of 10,000 m³. The resulting cloud of dust could be seen five kilometers further. Transit New Zealand carried out drilling and blasting work in 2006 and 2007 to stabilize the rock.

From Nevis Bluff the SH 6 runs westwards and reaches Frankton near Lake Wakatipu . The highway now turns southeast and follows the southeast coast of the lake past the base of The Remarkables and the Hector Mountains . This section of the route is particularly winding and has climbs and descents and is therefore called "The Devil's Staircase". The SH 6 has a branch line shortly after Frankton, the State Highway 6A. This 6.9 km long highway connects Frankton with the Queenstown Tourist Center .

Southland

The SH 6 leaves the coast of the lake at Kingston and runs south to Garston . There he briefly follows the upper reaches of the Mataura River and then crosses the hill country to the upper reaches of the Oreti River near Lowther . The highway follows the Oreti in a southerly direction through the Southland Plains , past the towns of Lumsden and Winton and finally ends at the junction at SH 1 in the city center of Invercargill.

Important junctions

District	place	km	Connection after	Remarks
Marlborough District	Blenheim	0	SH 1 / Classic New Zealand Wine Trail north (Grove Road) Picton , ferry to Wellington	' SH 6 begins
			SH 1 / Classic New Zealand Wine Trail south (Sinclair Street) Kaikoura , Christchurch
	Renwick	10	SH 6 3 St Arnaud , Westport	alternative route to Westport, bypassing Nelson
			SH 6 2 (Rapaura Road) Picton	alternative route to Picton, bypassing Blenheim
			Wairau River
Nelson City	District has no major connections
Tasman District	Richmond		SH 6 0 (Appleby Highway) Motueka , Collingwood
	Kawatiri	209	SH 6 3 St. Arnaud , Picton	alternative route to Blenheim, bypassing Nelson
	Longford	238	Longford Bridge Buller River
	Ariki	255	SH 6 5 Springs Junction , Christchurch (via Lewis Pass )
			O'Sullivan's Bridge Buller River
Buller District	Lyell	282	Iron Bridge Buller River
	Inangahua Junction	297	SH 6 9 Reefton , Greymouth , Christchurch (via Lewis Pass)	alternative route to Greymouth, bypassing Westport
	Westport		SH 6 7 Westport , Karamea
Gray District	Greymouth	430	SH 7 (Omoto Road) Reefton, Nelson, Christchurch (via Lewis Pass)	alternative route to Nelson, bypassing Westport
Westland District	Kumara Junction	448	SH 73 (Otira Highway) Arthur's Pass , Christchurch
	no important connections for 367 km
		815	Haast Pass 564 m
Queenstown-Lakes District
	Albert Town	891	Clutha River
	Mt. Iron	893	SH 84 (Wanaka Luggate Highway) Wanaka
Central Otago District	Luggate	901	SH 8A (Shortcut Road) Aoraki / Mount Cook , Christchurch	over the Lindis Pass
	Cromwell	942	SH 8B Cromwell, Aroaki / Mount Cook, Dunedin
Queenstown-Lakes District	Frankton	996	SH 6 A (Frankton Road) Queenstown
Southland District	Athol	1061	Mataura River
	Five Rivers	1082	SH 97 (Mossburn Five Rivers Road) Te Anau , Milford Sound / Piopiotahi	alternative route to Te Anau, bypasses Lumsden
	Lumsden	1093	SH 94 west (Mossburn Lumsden Highway) Te Anau, Milford Sound	common course SH 6 / SH 94 begins
		1095	SH 94 east (Flora Road) Gore	common course SH 6 / SH 94 ends
	Winton		SH 96 west (Winton Wreys Bush Highway) Nightcaps , Ohai		common course SH 6 / SH 96 begins
			SH 96 east (Winton Hedgehope Highway) Mataura	common course SH 6 / SH 96 ends
Invercargill City	Lorneville		SH 98 (Lorne Dacre Road) Dacre, Gore	alternative route to Gore, bypassing Invercargill
			SH 99 / Southern Scenic Route (Wallacetown Lorneville Highway) Riverton / Aparima, Tuatapere	common course of SH 6 starts / Southern Scenic Route
	Invercargill		SH 1 north / Southern Scenic Route east (Tay Street) Gore, Dunedin	' SH 6 ends
			SH 1 south (Clyde Street) Bluff

Web links

Commons : New Zealand State Highway 6  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Photo of the Hawk's Crag, around 1900
2. ↑ FAQs . 31. What is the longest bridge in New Zealand? . Transit New Zealand , 2007, archived from the original on June 19, 2008 ; accessed on May 6, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).  
3. ^ Ron Laughlin : Haast to Hokitika - Rain Forests & Glaciers . In: 100% Pure New Zealand . New Zealand Tourism , accessed May 6, 2019 .  
4. ↑ Otago Goldfields Heritage Trail ( Memento from January 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961 . Retrieved May 8, 2008.
6. ^ Ian Brown, Marc Hittinger, Richard Goodman: Finite element study of the Nevis Bluff (New Zealand) rock slope failure . In: Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering . 12, No. 3-4, March 1980, p. 231. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
7. ^ Motorists lucky to flee slip near Queenstown . In: New Zealand Herald . Retrieved May 8, 2008.
8. ↑ GS Hailliday, RJ McKelvey: Video analysis of an extremely rapid rock slope failure . In: Landslides: Evaluation and Stabilization . Taylor & Francis, 2004, ISBN 0-415-35665-2 , p. 1355 (Retrieved May 8, 2008).
9. ^ John Jarvis : Media release . SH 6 Nevis Bluff 'Traffic Delays . Transit New Zealand , August 16, 2006, archived from the original on October 17, 2008 ; accessed on May 6, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).