New Zealand State Highway 2

Template: Infobox trunk road / Maintenance / NZ- S

Regions:

Waikato
Bay of Plenty
Gisborne
Hawke 's Bay
Manawatu -Wanganui
Wellington

The State Highway 2 (SH 2) with a length of 968 km the second longest in the state highways in New Zealand. It is surpassed only by the total length of State Highway 1 but extends over both islands. The SH 2 is longer than the section of the SH 1 on the North Island. He goes first to the southeast, and later south-westerly direction over most of the North Island. It supplies while the lying in the east coast areas, while further west running SH 1 supplies the western parts of the island. It combines Auckland and Wellington on the Hawke 's Bay with the cities of Napier and Hastings, Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty including Tauranga.

Over most of the range of SH 2 is comparable expanded with a German road with one lane in each direction and has ground-level intersections and property driveways.

The busiest section of the SH 2 is located north of Ngauranga Interchange in Wellington, here is a traffic volume of an average of 62,000 vehicles per day was measured at kilometer 977.6. The quietest stretch is close Otoko in the Gisborne district, where the 375 kilometers ride only 1000 vehicles per day on average.

Route (as of 2008 )

The SH 2 branches north of Pokeno, about 49 km south of the city center of Auckland from SH 1 from. He first runs to the east, crossing the Hauraki Plains and then leads through the gorge Karangahake Gorge, an incision in the hills between the Coromandel Peninsula and the Kaimai Ranges. From the gold town ' Waihi on, he runs to the southeast to the Tauranga Harbour. He follows the coast and reached the city of Tauranga. Here runs the SH 2 was inaugurated on the end of 2009, Tauranga Harbour Link ' past the harbor through the industrial part of Mount Maunganui. Continue through the town of Te Puke kiwifruit, where some kilometers further on at Paengaroa of State Highway 33 branches off into the country towards Rotorua. The road now follows the coast in south-easterly direction until it reaches the village of Matata for about 60 km from Tauranga.

From here, the SH 2 runs over 90 km arcuate in the hinterland of the coast. South of Whakatane he crosses the Rangitaiki Plains and is crossed by State Highway 30. He now runs southeast through Taneatua, through the gorge of Waimana and then turns north to reach the coast of the Bay of Plenty Opotiki shortly before. Behind Opotiki, the road leads inland to the south. State Highway 35 branches off in Opotiki and follows the coastline to the east.

The SH 2 follows the valley of the River Waioeka in a southerly direction and overcomes the 725 m high summit of Trafford's Hill up. From here it leads to the Waipaoa River and follows its valley from Te Karaka to Makaraka, shortly before Gisborne. With the Gisborne SH 2 is connected by a short piece of SH 35, which meets again on SH 2.

The SH 2 runs close to the coast in a southerly direction, passing the Wharerata Forest and the base of the Mahia Peninsula. In Nuhaka he reached the shore of Hawke Bay and follows her for some 30 km to the west to Wairoa. There, the SH 35 branches off to the north. He crossed the Waihua River near the mouth and makes a curve in the domestic past the Mohaka Forest and the Lake Tutira. In Waihua he again reached the coast. He removed again from the coast, bypassing the coastal mountain range of the Rocky Range, he crossed the Mohaka River and leads on the western shore of Lake Tutira along. Between Wairoa and Tutira is the road route of the railroad in the Palmerston North Gisborne Line, one of the main routes of the North Island, accompanied.

The SH 2 again reached the coast of Hawke Bay and here has a connection with the SH 5 The highway now leads through the closely spaced cities Napier and Hastings.

From Hastings, the road goes southwest to Waipukurau into the country, then she turns briefly to the west and follows a tributary of the River Tukituki upriver. The route then heads southwest and crosses the hills that forms the upper part of the catchment of the Manawatu River. In Woodville SH 2 hits the SH3, which connects it via the Manawatu Gorge with the city of Palmerston North. The SH2 continues in a southerly direction through the Wairarapa continues, crosses Eketahuna and Masterton achieved.

The last 100 km through several small towns Warapara as Carterton, Greytown and Featherston. Then he leads over a steep and winding section of the Rimutaka Range 555 m peak height in the Hutt Valley. The highway runs along the border areas of Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt and Petone, roams the northern part of Wellington Harbour and then ends at the Ngauranga Interchange with State Highway 1, five kilometers from the city center of Wellington.

Although the Ngauranga Interchange is the official end of SH 2, he is eight kilometers further signposted to Mount Victoria Tunnel.

Feeders

The State Highway 2 has two short branches: State Highway 2A via 2.1 km from SH 2 in Tauranga at the intersection with SH23 in Maungatapu. The State Highway 2B is 4.1 km long and connects the SH 2 at Napier Airport by SH 50 at Taradale. This route is part of the Hawke 's Bay Expressway.

Changes in alignment

The SH 2 once led in the Bay of Plenty by Whakatane, this section is misplaced inland over Edgecumbe and Awakeri, the old part of the track is now part of SH 30, State Highway 2 followed in the center of Upper Hutt the Fergusson Drive, this part was bypassed in the 1980s by the River Road. Also, the south end of SH 2 has been changed. He was the southern part of the Wellington Urban Motorway, as the SH 1 still ended at the freeway exit Aotea Quay. 1996 replaced the SH 1 these southern portion of SH 2

In Mangatawhiri occurred on a section of SH 2 to an accumulation of accidents. Therefore, a seven- kilometer bypass route around the town was built. Here overtaking sections were on the otherwise single track road set up to allow safe overtaking. Since December 2008, the intersections are height -free.

Construction projects

Several construction projects are designed to improve safety on the SH 2:

Kopuku Realignment. The section between the circumvention of Mangatawhiri and Maramarua is investigated on a four-lane expansion towards since August 2008. 2010 was still in the testing phase.
Maramarua deviation. A bypass around the village Maramarua east of the branch SH 1/SH2 2 in Pokeno is improved by passing lanes safety and reduce congestion in the holiday season. The planning began in August 2008, pending the construction of the financing is 2011/2012 begin.
Katikati bypass since 2008 running investigation into a bypass in Katikati, by 2010 they are not finalized.
Tauranga Eastern Link. This project for the replacement of a portion of SH 2 through a 23- km-long construction of a new highway will be built since December 2010 to 2016. The route will extend from the intersection of Te Maunga to Paengaroa and access to the city from the east ( Te Puke, Whakatane, Opotiki, Gisborne ) and south ( Rotorua, Taupo ) improve. This stretch is the main route for truck traffic to the port of Tauranga from Rotorua and the Eastern Bay of Plenty. The economically important forest industry to be better connected to the central plateau to the export port.
Dowse to Petone Upgrade Project A height- free transition with an applied to the SH 2 roundabout with links to Hutt Road and Dowse Drive replaces the traffic lights in Korokoro. This project was implemented from August 2007 to January 2009.

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