New Zealand State Highway network
The New Zealand highway network consists of the so-called State Highways ( in German about: state highways ). This road network covers both the North and the South Island. 2004 were awarded a total length of almost 11,000 kilometers as State Highway 85 roads. These roads are all of the state by New Zealand Transport Agency administers. The speed limit is typically 100 km / h in built-up areas 70 km / h or 80 km / h in built-up areas 50 km / h The designation of the State Highways consists of the two letters " SH", a space and the number of the highway ( ie, for example: " SH 1").
Originally, the highway system was divided into national and provincial roads, the national roads were subject to a higher standard and better financing. Today, however, all state highways are considered as national roads. The actual national highways are still visible at the single-digit numbering ( State Highway 1-8, a State Highway 9 does not exist). The road network consists of the State Highway 1, the whole of New Zealand from north to south and passes through the State Highways 2-5 and 10-59 in the North Island and the State Highways 6-8, and 60-99 on the South Island.
Only a few sections around Auckland and Wellington are comparable multi-track and with the European motorways or North American highways. Some sections are single track and partly unpaved. ( When in New Zealand from a two-lane road is mentioned, so is therefore usually a road meant that features each have one lane in each direction. ) The busiest section in 2004 was the State Highway 1 belonging Auckland Harbour Bridge, with almost 162,000 vehicles daily, the least frequented (without ascents and descents ), a portion of State Highway 43 north of Whangamomona with 130 vehicles daily.
Marking
Are located at the side edges of the State Highways red triangle shields, on which in white letters the road number appears ( the provincial roads wear the numbers on a blue background). This symbol can also be found on signs and New Zealand street maps normally follow this designation. At irregular intervals, you have markers that indicate the distance from the beginning of the street. A similar mark can also be found on all bridges. These are divided into two parts: also located in the upper half of the distance from the beginning of the road ( in kilometers ), including a hyphen and then the distance from the nearest plate distance ( 100 meters ). So reads a sign 237/141, so there is 237 km away from the beginning of state highways, the bridge, and the distance to the next distance plate is 14.1 kilometers. This system is changed since 2004. Each bridge is assigned a unique number. The mark that number as well as the distance is then included from the start point at 100 meters. In the above example, this would be the number 2511th
Single Lane bridges
Characteristic of New Zealand are one lane bridges (so-called One Lane Bridges). At numerous points where the low volume of traffic has justified this, were built only one lane for cost reasons river bridges. The traffic control is then performed either by way signs or via light signals.
The longest one-lane bridge with 713 m length is the bridge as part of the State Highway 6 through the Haast River. It has two deflection in the middle of the bridge.