New Zealand State Highway 6
The State Highway 6 (SH 6) is a New Zealand State Highway and is located on the South Island of New Zealand. It is 1162 km long and extends from the northwest corner of the South Island across the northern part of the island, then down to the south. At first he runs here on the west coast, then crossed, however, the Southern Alps through inland Otago region, and finally crosses the Southland Plains towards the southern coast of the island. The kilometer runs from north to south. The highway is the longest continuous of the country, because the longer overall State Highway 1 is divided into two routes on the North and South Islands.
The SH 6 is for the most part a road with one lane in each direction with intersections and property accesses, ie equivalent to about a federal highway / main road. In Invercargill and Nelson, there are two lanes in each direction. The SH 6 had several combined road and rail bridges, of which but many no longer exist today.
Route
Nelson / Marlborough
The highway branches off in Blenheim from SH 1 and first runs northeastward through the detour -filled hills at the base of the Marlborough Sounds. He touched the sounds only briefly in Havelock, then the road is the valley of Pelorus River up into the interior. The highway turns to the Pelorus Bridge to the north, then southwest and near the coast of the Tasman Bay. The SH 6 passes through the major city of Nelson and the nearby town of Richmond. Then it sets its course southwestward away over the plains of the Wairoa River and Motueka River.
From here the road rises rapidly and reaches the 613 m high Hope Saddle. From here, the highway runs in a westerly direction along the valley of the Buller River and its tributaries.
According to Murchison, the valley narrows and becomes a picturesque gorge Buller Gorge. The highway winds its way high above the water along. In the gorge of the Buller River was already before 1900 a half -lane tunnel, Hawk 's Crag, blasted out of the solid rock.
West Coast
The SH 6 widening leaves the river and turns four miles from Westport, where the river enters the sea, to the south. Now follows the road from Charleston from over 100 km of the coastline. Only a short time it runs at Runanga inland. In this section there are two larger cities, Greymouth and Hokitika.
From Hokitika on the highway no longer runs but mostly right on the coast, there are no five kilometers from the coastline. He now runs south through Ross and past the Lake Ianthe and Harihari, crossed here and there state forests and crosses several rivers, including Mikoniui River, Waitaha River and Wanganui River. Latter river crosses the highway about 30 km from the mouth and makes it a turn from south to west. About ten kilometers to 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 Whataroaund reached The Forks. There it turns south and runs, sometimes along the eastern shore of Lake Mapourika about Tatara for Touristikort Franz Joseph, from which can be achieved in the nearby Southern Alps on foot from the Franz Josef Glacier. A second glacier, the Fox Glacier, located about 20 km to the south. Again, there is a settlement, Fox Glacier, on SH 6
The SH 6 Crossing the River and Karangarua Makawhiro River and touches briefly at Bruce Bay the coast. Now he bypasses the mouth of the Paringa River and Lake Paringa and located up to 15 km from the sea. In Knights Point he reached the lake again and follows the coast to Haast. The terrain in this 30- km long stretch is known for its rugged appearance. After crossing the Haast River, the road turns east and climbs the valley of the river, passing through the Gates of Haaast and crosses the 563 m high Haast Pass, the southernmost of the three important Südalpenübergänge. The bridge over the Haast River at kilometer 750 is the longest single lane bridge in New Zealand. It has two lay-bys.
Otago
From his rise from the valley of the Haast River SH now 6 passes in a southerly direction and follows the valley of the Makarora River down to the southern tip of Lake Wanaka. The road now leads to the east coast, crossed " The Neck ", a mountain saddle between Lakes Wanaka and Lake Hawea. Now he follows on the west coast of the lake, then southwest to the Cardrona River to Albert Town, near the tourist center of Wanaka.
Ten kilometers from Wanaka, the SH 8a a connection to SH 8 forth, which runs on the east coast of Lake Dunstan. The SH 6 in contrast runs south along the west coast. Close to Cromwell at the south end of the Seees, there is a second road connecting both highways, the SH 8B. After Cromwell, the SH 6 turns west and follows the narrow, winding gorge Kawarau Gorge. From this it occurs close to the vineyards of Gibbston again.
At the western end of the Kawarau Gorge, midway between Cromwell and Queenstown, the SH 6 passes the Nevis Bluff, a steep mica schist rock that rises 100 m above the Kawarau River. The highway was already locked at this point quite often because of the instability of the terrain and rock disposals. The first road to the Nevis Bluff was built in 1866 and allowed access to the gold fields of Wakatipu. On February 20, 1940, there came to larger rock falls, also in June 1975, the SH 6 was blocked. On September 17, 2000 buried a large rock fall the highway and several motorists narrowly escaped death. The rock fall was recorded on video and reached a volume of 10,000 m³. The resulting dust cloud was further seen five kilometers. Transit New Zealand led by 2006 and 2007 drilling and blasting operations to stabilize the rock.
From the Nevis Bluff SH 6 passes westward and reached Frankton near Lake Wakitipu. The highway now turns to the southeast and follows the southeast coast of the lake past the foot of The Remarkables and Hector Mountains. This stretch is provided particularly curvy and with climbs and descents and is therefore called " The Devil 's Staircase " ( "Devil's staircase "). The SH 6 has shortly after Frankton side roads, State Highway 6A. This 6.9 km long Highway connects Frankton with the tourist center of Queenstown.
Southland
The SH 6 leaves at Kingston the coast of the lake and runs south to Garston. There, he shortly follows the headwaters of the Mataura River and then crosses the hills to the upper reaches of the Oreti River at 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 connection point on SH 1 in the center of Invercargill.
Important junctions
Swell
SH 1
SH SH 2 • 3 • 4 • SH SH SH 5 • 10 • 11 • SH SH SH 12 • 14 • 15 • SH SH SH 16 • 17 • 18 • SH SH SH 20 • 21 • 22 • SH SH SH 23 • 24 • SH 25 SH 26 • • • SH 27 SH 28 SH 29 • • • SH 30 SH 31 SH 32 • • • SH 33 SH 34 SH 35 • • • SH 36 SH 37 SH 38 • • • SH 39 SH 40 SH • 41 • • SH 43 SH 44 SH 45 • • • SH 46 SH 47 SH 48 • • • SH 49 SH 50 SH 52 • • • SH 53 SH 54 SH 56 • • • SH 57 SH 58 SH 59 •
SH SH 6 • 7 • 8 • SH SH SH 9 • 60 • 61 • SH SH SH 63 • 65 • 67 • SH SH SH 69 • 70 • 71 • SH SH SH 73 • 74 • 75 • SH SH SH 77 • 79 • SH 80 SH 82 • • • SH 83 SH 84 SH 85 • • • SH 86 SH 87 SH 88 • • • SH 90 SH 94 SH 95 • • • SH 96 SH 98 SH 99 •
- Road in New Zealand