New Zealand State Highway 5
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NZ Transport Agency | ||||
| Length: | 262 km (163 mi) | |||
| Tourist routes: |
Thermal Explorer Highway | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| Northwest end: |
 SH 1 at Tirau
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| Southeast end: |
 SH 2 at Bay View
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| Location | ||||
| Primary destinations: |
Rotorua, Wairakei, Taupo | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Highway 5 is the second shortest of New Zealand's eight national highways. It extends from SH 1 at Tirau, on the plains of the Waikato River, to SH 2, close to the Hawke Bay coast at Bay View, 10 km north of Napier. Distances are measured from north to south.
For most of its length, SH 5 is a two-lane single carriageway, other than a two-kilometre section of dual carriageway in Rotorua, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, both in rural and urban areas. The New Zealand Transport Agency classifies SH 5 as a regional strategic highway, except for the concurrent section with SH 1 through Taupo where it is classified as a national strategic road.
This is the route that SH 5 takes in 2007.
The highway leaves SH1 at Tirau, heading east and ascending to cross the Mamaku Ranges to Lake Rotorua. The highway skirts the southwestern edge of the lake, entering the city of Rotorua and continuing south through the Rotorua-Taupo thermal area to the upper reaches of the Waikato River. It follows the river's upper valley past Wairakei and the Huka Falls to the town of Taupo, on the northeastern edge of the lake of the same name. Between Wairakei and Taupo, the highway runs concurrently with SH 1.
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