New Zealand State Highway 4

State Highway 4
Route information
Maintained by New Zealand Transport Agency
Length: 237 km (147 mi)
Major junctions
North end: SH 3 at Eight Mile Junction (11 km south of Te Kuiti)
South end: SH 3 at Wanganui
Location
Primary
destinations:		 Taumarunui, National Park, Raetihi
Highway system
← SH 3SH 5 →

State Highway 4 is the shortest of New Zealand's eight national highways. It runs north-south across rugged hill country, forming a short cut between two points on State Highway 3 thereby avoiding Taranaki and the coasts of the North and South Taranaki Bights. Distances are measured from north to south.

For most of its length SH4 is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, both in rural and urban areas.

Route

The highway commences from a junction on SH 3 11 km south of Te Kuiti. It heads south-southeast, climbing initially, then descending along the winding valleys of the Ohura and Ongarue Rivers, two tributaries of the Whanganui. The Ongarue joins the Whanganui close to Taumarunui, and here the highway turns east briefly, ascending the Whanganui's valley before turning south to skirt the North Island Volcanic Plateau. The peaks of the plateau's volcanoes are clearly visible from the highway, especially that of the southernmost, Ruapehu.

At Horopito the highway veers southwest briefly, following a tributary of the Maungawhero River until it joins with this river near Raetihi. The highway continues to descend the Maungawhero's valley to within 40 km of its mouth, then heads west across rolling hill country to the valley of the Whanganui River, which it follows for the last 15 km of its journey into Wanganui.

Major junctions

Territorial authority Location km Destinations Notes
Waitomo District Eight Mile Junction 0 SH 3 north – Hamilton
SH 3 south – New Plymouth 		SH 4 begins
Ruapehu District Taumarunui 70 SH 43 (Kururau Road) – Stratford
74 Whanganui River
Manunui 77 SH 41 – Turangi
National Park 114 SH 47 – Turangi
Tohunga Junction 140 SH 49 – Ohakune, Waiouru
Wanganui District Putiki 237 SH 3 north – Wanganui, New Plymouth
SH 3 south – Palmerston North 		SH 4 ends

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.