State Highway 74 (New Zealand)
State Highway 74 is a state highway in New Zealand servicing the eastern suburbs of Christchurch. Mostly two-lane, it is composed of limited-access expressways, with part of the highway as the Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway, and connects the city to its port town of Lyttelton.
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| Christchurch Ring Road | ||||
Route of State Highway 74 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NZ Transport Agency | ||||
| Length | 28.4 km (17.6 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end |  SH 1 (Christchurch Northern Motorway) at Belfast | |||
| Southeast end | Gladstone Quay at Lyttelton | |||
| Location | ||||
| Major cities | Christchurch | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Route
The highway begins immediately north of Belfast, with ramps connecting to the Western Bypass of the Christchurch Northern Motorway on State Highway 1. It then proceeds in a southerly direction, following Main North Road through the suburbs of Belfast, Northwood and Redwood.
At Northcote, the highway turns left onto Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Drive and begins its concurrency with the Christchurch Ring Road. As a two lane expressway, QEII Drive skirts through the northern suburbs of Christchurch, with major intersections at Innes Road and Marshland Road. After the Burwood Road traffic lights, the road changes name to Travis Road, loses expressway status, and runs in an easterly direction to the Anzac Drive/Frosts Road roundabout, where the highway turns right.
Now known as Anzac Drive, the road returns to expressway status and runs through the suburbs of Aranui and Bexley until reaching the Breezes Road/Bridge Street Roundabout. After the roundabout, the road changes name to Dyers Road. At Palinurus Road, the concurrency with the Ring Road ends, but Dyers Road keeps going in a southerly direction until the Ferry Road roundabout.
After the roundabout, the highway changes name to Tunnel Road and turns into a motorway, and passes through two interchanges before passing through the Lyttelton road tunnel. (For more information on this section go to Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway)
In Lyttelton, the road changes name to Norwich Quay and acts as the main thoroughfare through the town and its associated port before terminating at the port gates as Gladstone Quay.
Route Changes
The route of SH 74 has been rearranged quite frequently for a State Highway, initially gazetted in 1964 upon the opening of the Lyttelton Road Tunnel, it only consisted of the motorway and the short section through Lyttelton.
When State Highway 1 went through Christchurch was rerouted to bypass the city in the early 1990s, State Highways 73 and 74 were extended to cover much of the original route, with SH 74 initially continuing through at QEII Drive/Northcote Road to travel via Cranford and Sherborne Streets. In Christchurch CBD, the route turned left onto Bealey Avenue and then onto the parallel one-way roads Madras and Barbadoes Street. The road then turned left onto Moorhouse Avenue and then right onto Waltham Road before turning left again onto Brougham Street. The road then proceeded in a south-easterly direction until the Port Hills Road interchange with Tunnel Road.[1] In 2004, the route was realigned to its current route, with much of the previous route either revoked or taken over by SH 73.[2]
In November 2017, the Christchurch Northern Motorway's Western Bypass was opened, taking State Highway 1 to the west of Belfast, and State Highway 74's route was extended north along SH1's previous route up Main North Road from the Johns Road intersection to the previously existing motorway.[3]
With the recent designation of the Christchurch northern corridor as a road of national significance,[4] there are plans underway to create the expressway Northern Arterial Road, which will bypass the northern suburbs of Redwood and Belfast as well as turning both the QEII Drive and Travis Road sections of SH 74 into dual carriageways.[5]
Major intersections
For Tunnel Road's major intersection, refer to Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway
| Territorial authority | Location | km | jct | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christchurch City | Belfast | 0 |  | SH 1 (Christchurch Northern Motorway) | SH 74 begins Northbound exit and southbound entrance only |
| 2.4 |  | (Johns Road) | Previous northern end of highway. Leads to SH1 for southbound exit | ||
| 3.8 | | (Radcliffe Road) (Northwood Boulevard) – Northwood | |||
| Styx | 4.5 | | (Styx Mill Road) | ||
| Redwood | 5.3 | | (Prestons Road) – Marshland, Burwood | ||
| 5.8 | | (Daniels Road) | |||
| Northcote | 6.5 | | (Main North Road) – Papanui, City Centre (Northcote Road) – Bishopdale, Ilam | ||
| Mairehau |  SH 74 north (Christchurch Northern Motorway extension)Cranford Street extension | Under construction | |||
| 9.7 |  | (Innes Road) – Mairehau, Saint Albans | |||
| Marshland | 10.3 | | (Marshland Road) – Kaiapoi, Shirley | ||
| New Brighton | 13.7 | | (Frosts Road) – Parklands (Travis Road) – North New Brighton | ||
| 14.5 | | (New Brighton Road) – New Brighton, Dallington, City Centre | |||
| 14.6 |  | Avon River / Ōtākaro Bridge | |||
| Wainoni | 15.2 | | (Wainoni Road) – New Brighton, Wainoni, Linwood | ||
| Bexley | 16.4 | | (Pages Road) – New Brighton, Linwood, City Centre | ||
| Bromley | 18.0 | | (Bridge Street) – South New Brighton (Breezes Road) – Aranui, City Centre | ||
| 21.2 | | (Linwood Avenue) – Ferrymead, Sumner, Linwood, City Centre | |||
| Woolston | 21.7 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} |  SH 74A (Palinurus Road) – Woolston, City Centre | ||
| 22.0 | | (Ferry Road) – Sumner, Woolston, City Centre |  Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway (Tunnel Road) begins | ||
| 22.1 | | Heathcote River / Ōpāwaho Bridge | |||
| Heathcote | 24.3 | |  SH 76 (Port Hills Road) – Healthcote, Opawa, City Centre | ||
| 26.0 | | (Bridle Path Road) – Heathcote | Northbound exit and southbound entrance only | ||
| 26.1 |  | Lyttelton Road Tunnel (1.97 km (1.22 mi)) | |||
| Lyttelton | 28.1 | ||||
| 28.1 | | (Simeon Quay) – Naval Point, Governors Bay |  Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway (Tunnel Road) ends | ||
| 28.5 |  | (Oxford Street) – Town Centre, Sumner | |||
| 28.8 | (Gladstone Quay) – Port | SH 74 ends |
Spur Sections
Christchurch Ring Road | |
|---|---|
| Location | Bromley–Woolston |
| Length | 2.1 km (1.3 mi) |
State Highway 74A is a minor Christchurch arterial road connecting the southeastern industrial suburbs of Bromley and Woolston. It was gazetted as a new state highway in 2003 at the same time SH 74 was shifted to its current location.[2] It is just over 2 kilometres long and consists of three roads - Garlands Road, Palinurus Road and Rutherford Street. It runs concurrent with the Christchurch Ring Road for its entire length.
Major Intersections
| Territorial authority | Location | km | jct | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christchurch City | Woolston | 0 |  | SH 74 north (Dyers Road) – Bromley, New Brighton, Picton SH 74 south (Dyers Road) – Lyttelton | SH 74A begins |
| 0.5 | | (Ferry Road) – Sumner, Woolston, City Centre | |||
| 0.7 | | Heathcote River | |||
| Opawa | 1.9 |  | Lyttelton Line | ||
| 2.1 | | SH 76 east (Opawa Road) – Lyttelton SH 76 west (Opawa Road) – Waltham, City Centre | SH 74A ends |
See also
References
- The Previous State Highway 74 on Google Maps
- "Revoking Sections of State Highway and Declaring New Sections of State Highway". NZ Gazette. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- "Christchurch's Western Belfast Bypass - all lanes now open". NZ Transport Agency. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
- "Christchurch Northern Corridor". Archived from the original on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
- "Northern Corridor" (PDF). Retrieved 29 May 2010.
External links
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| North Island |
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| Former state highways | ||
| Touring routes |
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