New Zealand State Highway 7
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NZ Transport Agency | ||||
| Length: | 272 km (169 mi) | |||
| Tourist routes: |
Alpine Pacific Triangle between Hanmer Junction and Waipara | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| East end: |
 SH 1 at Waipara
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| West end: |
 SH 6 at Greymouth
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| Location | ||||
| Primary destinations: |
Culverden, Maruia Springs, Springs Junction, Reefton | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Highway 7 is a major New Zealand state highway. One of the eight national highways, it crosses the Southern Alps to link the West Coast Region with Canterbury and to form a link between the South Island's two longest highways, State Highway 1 and State Highway 6. Distances are measured from east to west with the major junction list going from east to west.
For most of its length SH 7 is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, both in rural and urban areas. There are a number of passing lanes at irregular intervals through the rural sections. The New Zealand Transport Agency classifies SH 7 as a primary collector highway, preferring SH 73 via Arthur's Pass as the strategic highway between Canterbury and the West Coast.
The highway leaves SH 1 at Waipara, some 60 kilometres north of Christchurch, and initially heads north, crossing several rivers and skirting the Balmoral State Forest. After the junction with the Inland Kaikoura road (formerly SH 70) there is a 13.7 km straight, the longest straight section of highway in New Zealand. Just north of Culverden, it reaches the valley of the Waiau River and turns west to the course of this river and its tributary the Lewis River up the valley to the 907-metre Lewis Pass, the northernmost of the three main road passes across the Southern Alps.
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