New Zealand State Highway 3
|
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NZ Transport Agency | ||||
| Length: | 500 km (300 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end: |
 SH 1 at Hamilton
|
|||
| South end: |
 SH 2 at Woodville
|
|||
| Location | ||||
| Primary destinations: |
Te Awamutu, Otorohanga, Te Kuiti, New Plymouth, Hawera, Whanganui, Palmerston North | |||
| Highway system | ||||
|
||||
→|
|
|
|---|---|
| Location: | SH 3 west of Waitara – SH 3 at Inglewood |
| Length: | 15.6 km (9.7 mi) |
State Highway 3 (SH 3) is one of New Zealand's eight national state highways. It serves the west coast of the country's North Island and forms a link between State Highway 1 and State Highway 2. Distances are measured from north to south.
For most of its length SH 3 is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, both in rural and urban areas.
A Mokau - Awakino horse track was widened to a dray track about 1897. The first car to traverse the route from Auckland to New Plymouth seems to have been an 8 hp Cadillac in 1905, though Otorohanga to Te Kuiti was by train and, between Awakino and Mokau, a horse assisted on the beach. A 1910 Te Kuiti meeting called for metalling of the road to Awakino.Mt Messenger tunnel opened in 1916 and its single lane was enlarged about 1983. £3,000 (2016 equivalent $280,000) was provided in 1919 for the Awakino Gorge section, including the tunnel (enlarged in 2011), and it was opened in March 1923 at a total cost of about £60,000 (2016 equivalent $5.8m). Most of the route was gazetted as a government main highway in 1924, some sections were tar-sealed in 1925 and more work had been done on the road by 1936, leaving only a few mud sections. By 1949 the road was sealed as far south as Te Kuiti and the reinforced concrete bridge over the Waipa at Otorohanga had been started.
The 12 ft (3.7 m) wide, single-lane, 11-span, 670 ft (200 m), steel,Mokau Bridge opened in October 1927 (official opening 17 December), replacing a punt. The cost was £35,000 (2016 equivalent $3.3m). It had a lifting span allowing passage of vessels up to 50 ft (15 m) wide and with a 60 ft (18 m) clearance at high tide. In 2001 the 1927 bridge was replaced by the current 9-span, 230 m (250 yd), double lane, pre-stressed concrete bridge for $6.2m (2016 equivalent $8.5m). The new bridge doesn't allow for shipping, as the first ship to pass under the old lifting span was withdrawn three months after the bridge opened.
...
Wikipedia