State Highway 6 (New Zealand)

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State Highway 6 (SH 6) is a major New Zealand state highway. It extends from the Marlborough region in the northeastern corner of the South Island across the top of the island, then down the length of the island, initially along the West Coast and then across the Southern Alps through inland Otago and finally across the Southland Plains to the island's south coast. Distances are measured from north to south.

State Highway 6 shield}}
State Highway 6
Route information
Maintained by NZ Transport Agency
Length1,162 km (722 mi)
Tourist
routes
Southern Scenic Route between Invercargill-Lorneville and Five Rivers-Queenstown (as of 2010)
Major junctions
North end SH 1 (Grove Road/Sinclair Street) at Blenheim
Major intersections SH 7 (Omoto Road) at Greymouth
SH 8A (Shortcut Road) to SH 8 at Luggate
SH 8B to SH 8 at Cromwell
South end SH 1 (Tay Street/Clyde Street) at Invercargill
Location
CountryNew Zealand
Primary
destinations
Nelson, Murchison, Inangahua Junction, Runanga, Greymouth, Hokitika, Haast, Wānaka, Cromwell, Queenstown, Lumsden, Winton
Highway system
SH 5 SH 7

The highway is the longest single highway in the country, though it is shorter than the combined totals of the two highways that comprise SH 1, SHs 1N and 1S.

For most of its length SH6 is a two-lane single carriageway, except for 5.4 km of dual carriageway in Invercargill, and passing lanes in Invercargill and Nelson, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, both in rural and urban areas. Roundabouts are common in major towns, with traffic signals only found in Invercargill, Queenstown, Richmond, and Tāhunanui with signals also controlling Iron Bridge in the upper Buller Gorge, Fern Arch in the lower Buller Gorge near Westport, and the Albert Town Bridge over the Clutha River near Albert Town. NZTA classified the highway as an arterial route, except for two sections between Blenheim (SH 1) and Richmond (SH 60) and between Cromwell (SH 8B) and Five Rivers (SH 97) where SH 6 is classified as a regional strategic route.[1]

Route

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Marlborough

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State Highway 6 crossing the Pelorus River in Marlborough

The highway leaves State Highway 1 at Blenheim, initially travelling west through Woodboune to Renwick. At Renwick the highway turns north, crossing the Wairau River and following the Kaituna River valley to meet Pelorus Sound/Te Hoiere at Havelock. From Havelock, the highway heads inland up the valley of the Pelorus River. At Pelorus Bridge the highway again turns north through Rai Valley, and crosses into Nelson region at the Rai Saddle.

Nelson-Tasman

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The highway then tends southwest as it crosses over the Whangamoa Saddle approaching the coast of Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere. The highway travels through the city of Nelson and nearby town of Richmond, continuing southwest across the plains of the Wairoa and Motueka Rivers.

From these plains, the road ascends rapidly to the 634-metre Hope Saddle. From here, the highway heads generally westward, along the valley of the Buller River and its tributaries. Beyond Murchison, this valley narrows to become the scenic Buller Gorge, and the highway twists its way high above the waters of the river.

West Coast

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"Hawks Crag", a half-tunnel of a rock shelf carrying State Highway 6 along the bank of the Buller River
 
State Highway 6 near Kumara Junction.

The highway leaves the river as its valley broadens, turning south six kilometres from Westport, where the river reaches the sea. From here, the highway keeps close to the Tasman coast from Charleston for over 100 kilometres, turning inland only briefly near Runanga. This 100-kilometre stretch includes two of the coast's larger towns, Greymouth and Hokitika.

From Hokitika, the highway moves away from the coast, though still generally keeps within five kilometres of the sea. The highway continues south past Ross and Harihari, moving through state forests as it crosses several fast-moving rivers. Seventy kilometres south of Harihari, the highway skirts Lake Mapourika and reaches the tourist settlement of Franz Josef Glacier. The glacier itself, one of two within easy walking distance of the highway, lies nearby in the Southern Alps, which here come very close to the Tasman coast. The second glacier, Fox Glacier is located some 20 kilometres further south. The highway again briefly touches the coast at Bruce Bay before heading inland past Lake Paringa, before reemerging on the Tasman coast at Knights Point. The 30 km stretch of highway from here south to Haast is noted for its rugged scenery. After crossing the Haast River, the highway turns eastward and inland up the river's valley, climbing past the Gates of Haast and crossing the 563-metre Haast Pass, the southernmost of the three main road passes across the Southern Alps.

Otago

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From here, the highway again turns south, following the Makarora River valley to the northern tip of Lake Wānaka. The highway skirts the eastern coast of the lake before crossing The Neck, a saddle in the mountains that lie between Lakes Wānaka and Hāwea. The highway continues along the western shore of Hāwea, then south along the Cardrona River to Albert Town, close to the tourist centre of Wānaka.

 
State Highway 6 at the Nevis Bluff.
 
State Highway 6 skirts the slopes of The Remarkables and shore of Lake Wakatipu south of Queenstown.

Ten kilometres from Wānaka, the highway is met by SH 8A, a spur of SH 8 skirting the shore of Lake Dunstan. SH 6 continues south along the western shore of the Lake, paralleling SH 8 which lies on the eastern shore. Close to Cromwell, a second spur, SH 8B, connects the two highways. From here, SH6 turns west, following the narrow and twisting Kawarau Gorge, emerging close to the wine-producing area of Gibbston.

At the western end of the Kawarau Gorge, midway between Cromwell and Queenstown, the highway passes the Nevis Bluff, a steep schist rock outcrop rising 100 m above the Kawarau River. The highway has a history of being disrupted and closed at this point due to instability and rock falls from the bluff. The first road around the bluff was constructed in 1866, opening access to the Wakatipu goldfields.[2] Significant slips occurred at the bluff on 1940-02-20,[3] and blocking SH6 in June 1975.[4] On 17 September 2000, a large-scale rock fall buried the highway at the bluff, and several motorists narrowly avoided being killed. The fall was caught on video and showed a volume of 10,000 m³ for the main fall; the resulting dust cloud was seen 5 km away.[5][6] Transit New Zealand conducted stabilisation drilling and blasting at the bluff twice in 2006 and again in 2007.[7]

From the Nevis Bluff, the highway continues west, reaching Frankton, close to the shore of Lake Wakatipu. The highway turns south to follow the southeastern shore of the lake, skirting the foot of The Remarkables and the Hector Mountains. This stretch of the highway is in part tortuously winding, and rises and falls over a stretch known as "The Devil's Staircase".

Southland

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The highway leaves the lake's shore at Kingston, continuing south to Garston, where, the highway briefly follows the course of the infant Mataura River before heading across the Jollies Hill Pass to the upper reaches of the Ōreti River near Lowther. The highway continues to follow the Ōreti south, through Lumsden, then across the Southland Plains, past the town of Winton before reaching its terminus at a junction with SH 1 in central Invercargill.

Spur sections

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SH6 has one spur, designated  State Highway 6A (also part of the  Southern Scenic Route). This 6.9 km highway links Frankton with the tourist centre of Queenstown.

Engineering features

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The Kawarau River Bridge on State Highway 6
  • Hawk's Crag is a single-lane half tunnel blasted out of a solid rock bluff in the Buller Gorge. It was constructed in 1869.[8]
  • The highway featured a number of combined road-rail bridges, but they have all now been replaced.
  • The Haast River bridge (km 750.0) is now the longest single-lane bridge in the country, with two passing bays.[9]
  • A two-lane bridge was built at Kawarau Falls just south of Frankton. This superseded the one-lane bridge that was up until then the highway crossing.[10] This opened in 2018.[11]

Route changes

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SH 6 in Nelson City previously went through Stoke between Annesbrook Drive and the Richmond Deviation via Main Road. In 2003, SH 6 shifted to the newly constructed Whakatu Drive, bypassing much of the residential areas.[12]

Major junctions

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Territorial authorityLocationkmmiDestinationsNotes
Marlborough DistrictBlenheim00.0   SH 1 north (Grove Road) – Picton, Wellington Ferry
  SH 1 south (Grove Road) – Kaikōura, Christchurch
SH 6 begins
Renwick106.2  SH 63St Arnaud, Westport
148.7  SH 62 (Rapaura Road) – Picton
Nelson City
No major junctions
Tasman DistrictRichmond12980  SH 60 (Appleby Highway) – Motueka, Collingwood
Kohatu169105Motueka Valley Highway – Tapawera, MotuekaFormer SH 61
 196122Hope Saddle 634 m (2,080 ft)
Kawatiri209130  SH 63St Arnaud, Picton
Ariki255158  SH 65Springs Junction, Christchurch (via Lewis Pass
Buller DistrictInangahua Junction297185  SH 69Reefton, Greymouth, Christchurch (via Lewis Pass)
Westport328204  SH 67 – Westport, Karamea
Grey DistrictGreymouth430270  SH 7 (Omoto Road) – Reefton, Nelson, Christchurch (via Lewis Pass)
Westland DistrictKumara Junction448278  SH 73 (Otira Highway) – Arthur's Pass, Christchurch
Westland District / Queenstown-Lakes District boundaryMount Aspiring National Park815506Haast Pass 564 m (1,850 ft)
Queenstown-Lakes DistrictMt Iron893555  SH 84 (Wanaka Luggate Highway) – Wānaka
Luggate901560   SH 8A (Shortcut Road) to SH 8Omarama, Aoraki / Mount Cook, Christchurch
Central Otago DistrictCromwell942585   SH 8B to SH 8 – Cromwell, Aoraki / Mount Cook, Dunedin, Christchurch
Queenstown-Lakes DistrictArrow Junction983611Crown Range RoadCardrona, WānakaFormer SH 89
Frankton996619  SH 6A (Frankton Road) – Queenstown
Southland DistrictFive Rivers1,082672  SH 97 (Mossburn Five Rivers Road) – Te Anau, Milford Sound/Piopiotahi
Lumsden1,093679  SH 94 west (Mossburn Lumsden Highway) – Te Anau, Milford Sound/PiopiotahiSH 6/SH 94 concurrency begins
1,095680  SH 94 west (Flora Road) – GoreSH 6/SH 94 concurrency ends
Winton1,143710  SH 96 west (Winton Wreys Bush Highway) – Nightcaps, OhaiSH 6/SH 96 concurrency begins
1,145711  SH 96 east (Winton Hedgehope Highway) – MatauraSH 6/SH 96 concurrency ends
Invercargill CityLorneville1,168726  SH 98 (Lorne Dacre Road) – Dacre, Gore
  SH 99 (Wallacetown Lorneville Highway) – Riverton/Aparima, Tuatapere
Invercargill city centre1,176731  SH 1 north (Tay Street) – Gore, Dunedin
  SH 1 south (Clyde Street) – Bluff
SH 6 ends

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "One Network Road Classification: South Island State Highways" (PDF). New Zealand Transport Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Otago Goldfields Heritage Trail – Queenstown". New Zealand South. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868–1961". Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  4. ^ Brown, Ian; Hittinger, Marc; Goodman, Richard (March 1980). "Finite element study of the Nevis Bluff (New Zealand) rock slope failure". Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. 12 (3–4): 231. Bibcode:1980RMFMR..12..231B. doi:10.1007/bf01251027. S2CID 129047444.
  5. ^ "Motorists lucky to flee slip near Queenstown". The New Zealand Herald. 18 September 2000. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  6. ^ Hailliday, G.S.; McKelvey, R.J. (2004). "Video-analysis of an extremely rapid rockslope failure". Landslides: Evaluation and Stabilization. Taylor & Francis. p. 1355. ISBN 0-415-35665-2. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  7. ^ "SH 6 Nevis Bluff ' Traffic Delays". Transit New Zealand. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  8. ^ ca. 1900 photo of Hawk's Crag
  9. ^ What is the longest bridge in New Zealand? Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Transit New Zealand FAQs. Accessed 9 June 2008.
  10. ^ "New two-lane Kawarau Falls Bridge project". NZTA.
  11. ^ "Both traffic lanes of new Queenstown Kawarau Falls Bridge open Thursday". NZTA. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  12. ^ "Revoking Sections of State Highway and Declaring New Sections of State Highway". NZ Gazette. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
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