State Highway 59 (SH 59) is a New Zealand state highway in the Wellington Region linking Mackays Crossing (near Paekākāriki) to Linden. It came into existence on 7 December 2021,[1] prior to the opening of the Transmission Gully Motorway, and consists of the former route of State Highway 1 between Mackays Crossing and Linden.[2]
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NZ Transport Agency | ||||
| Length | 26.2 km (16.3 mi) | |||
| Existed | 2021–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end |  SH 1 (Kāpiti Expressway/Transmission Gully Motorway) at Mackays Crossing | |||
 SH 58 east (Paremata Road) at Paremata | ||||
| South end | SH 1 south (Johnsonville–Porirua Motorway) at Linden | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | New Zealand | |||
| Primary destinations | Paekākāriki, Pukerua Bay, Paremata, Porirua | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Route
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State Highway 59 leaves State Highway 1 at the Mackays Crossing Interchange, the point where the northern end of the Transmission Gully Motorway meets the southern end of the Kāpiti Expressway. The route heads to the south-west and passes through Paekākāriki, before travelling along the Centennial Highway through to Pukerua Bay along a narrow strip of land between the Paekākāriki Escarpment and the Tasman Sea, shared with the North Island Main Trunk railway line. After Pukerua Bay, the route becomes a dual carriageway through to Plimmerton, before narrowing to a single carriageway through Mana. South of Mana, the route crosses over the Porirua Harbour at Paremata; here, the route intersects with the western terminus of State Highway 58 at a roundabout.
From the SH 58 junction, the route once more becomes a dual carriageway and travels between the Porirua Harbour and the suburb of Papakōwhai to reach the Porirua city centre, becoming the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway at a point 500 metres (550 yd) south of the Mungavin Avenue interchange. A short distance south, as the route enters Wellington City in the northern suburb of Linden, the southern end of the Transmission Gully Motorway carrying SH 1 merges on to the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway. The SH 59 designation ends at this point, with the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway carrying the SH 1 designation as it continues south to Johnsonville and Wellington.
History
editThe original route north of Wellington known as the Centennial Highway from Ngauranga to Paekākāriki was started in 1936 and opened on 4 November 1939.[3] The Centennial Highway project involved an upgrade of the Ngauranga Gorge road and provided a new route from Paremata to Paekākāriki, bypassing the winding road along the southern harbour edge from Paremata to Pāuatahanui (now part of State Highway 58) and the tortuous narrow winding Paekākāriki Hill Road between Pāuatahanui and Paekākāriki. It followed a new route, bridging the narrow channel between Paremata and the Mana isthmus and following the eastern edge of the Taupō swamp north of Plimmerton before climbing to the Pukerua Bay saddle and descending to follow the coastline to Paekākāriki.[4]
During the 1950s and 1960s, the route south of Porirua was replaced in stages by the Johnsonville–Porirua Motorway.
In Porirua city, in the 1990s, the road was widened to four lanes and realigned to ease curves from just south of Pukerua Bay to Mana. In 2005–2006, the route through Mana was upgraded with extra lanes to provide dual carriageways through Mana during peak periods and the installation of traffic lights to regulate cross traffic. A second bridge was added to expand to four lanes the connection of the Mana isthmus to Paremata.
Originally part of State Highway 1, the route was renumbered State Highway 59 on 7 December 2021, shortly before the opening of the Transmission Gully Motorway.[1] SH 1 was shifted to the Transmission Gully Motorway to reflect its purpose as the new main route north of Wellington, with the existing route remaining a state highway due to its strategic importance to the regional transport network.[2]
The stretch along the coast between Paekākāriki and Pukerua Bay is prone to slips, part of the reason the inland route through Transmission Gully was preferred for greater resiliency to natural disasters.[5] In its first year of being State Highway 59, the highway was closed twice due to weather events causing flooding and slips,[6][7] the third time the coastal road was closed in the space of a year.[8]
Major junctions
editAll exits are unnumbered.
| Territorial authority | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kāpiti Coast District | Mackays Crossing | 0.0 | 0.0 | SH 1 south (Transmission Gully Motorway) - Wellington (Emerald Glen Road) (Whareroa Road) - Whareroa Farm | SH 59 begins 40°58′15″S 174°58′59″E / 40.970968°S 174.983033°E |
| 0.1 | 0.062 | (Whareroa Road) – Queen Elizabeth Park To SH 1 north (Kāpiti Expressway) - Paraparaumu, Palmerston North | |||
| Paekākāriki | 1.9 | 1.2 | SH 1 north (Transmission Gully Motorway to Kāpiti Expressway) - Paraparaumu, Palmerston North | Access to northbound SH 1 and access from southbound SH 1 (via Paekākāriki Link Road) only | |
| 3.5 | 2.2 | (Paekākāriki Hill Road) – Pāuatahanui (Beach Road) – Paekākāriki  Paekākāriki railway station | |||
| Porirua City | Plimmerton | 17.1 | 10.6 | (James Street/Ulric Street) - Plimmerton Estate Plimmerton railway station | |
| Paremata | 19.8 | 12.3 | SH 58 (Paremata Road) – Whitby, Hutt Valley Paremata railway station park & ride | 41°06′21″S 174°52′05″E / 41.105864°S 174.867956°E | |
| Papakōwhai | 21.9 | 13.6 | (Whitford Brown Avenue) – Papakōwhai | ||
| Porirua CBD | 23.3 | 14.5 | (Parumoana Street) – Porirua City Centre, Titahi Bay | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| 24.1 | 15.0 | (Mungavin Avenue) – Porirua City Centre, Titahi Bay, Tawa Porirua railway station park & ride |  Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway begins 500 m (550 yd) south of this junction | ||
| Wellington City | Linden | 26.2 | 16.3 | SH 1 north (Transmission Gully Motorway) - Palmerston North | SH 59 ends 41°09′19″S 174°50′22″E / 41.155188°S 174.839422°E Northbound exit and southbound entrance Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway continues south as  SH 1 |
References
edit- ^ a b "State Highway 59 switch confirmed for December" (Press release). New Zealand Transport Agency. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Change coming for state highway numbers in the Wellington region" (Press release). New Zealand Transport Agency. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
- ^ Reilly, Helen (2013). Pauatahanui: A local history. Wellington: Pauatahanui Residents Association. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-473-25439-1.
- ^ "Centennial Highway, State Highway 1". Engineering New Zealand. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
- ^ Board of Inquiry into the Transmission Gully Proposal (June 2012). "Final Report and Decision of the Board of Inquiry into the Transmission Gully Proposal" (PDF). Environmental Protection Authority. p. 73. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
- ^ Bill Hickman (10 June 2022). "When wild weather rages, Pukerua Bay is stuck between the slips and the sea". Dominion Post. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
- ^ Kate Green (2 September 2022). "Slip closes key coastal route for at least 10 more days". Dominion Post. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
- ^ Wellington reporters (16 December 2021). "SH59 north of Wellington opens, but delays expected as congestion clears". Dominion Post. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
External links
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