Dunedin–Waitati Highway ( SH 1), formerly (and currently in official land-use planning contexts) called Dunedin Northern Motorway, is a two-to-four-lane

limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

which provides the main route north from the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand. Opened on 14 December 1957, it superseded the narrow and winding routes via

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The origi ...

and

Mount Cargill Mount Cargill, known in Māori as Kapukataumahaka,Place names'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 2012-01-04 is a volcanic outcrop which dominates the skyline of northern Dunedin, New Zealand. The peak is named for Captain ...

. The road is occasionally briefly closed by snowfall in winter.

Route

Dunedin–Waitati Highway is relatively steep and winding, traversing part of the

Silverpeaks The Silverpeaks (sometimes spelt Silver Peaks) is an area of rough forest and tussock and scrub covered hill country inland and to the northwest of Dunedin, New Zealand. The area is largely uninhabited; the main indication of human activity is ...

range of hills. It begins a short distance north-west from where the two main parts of Dunedin's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

one-way street system combine near

The Gardens Corner North East Valley (sometimes spelt Northeast Valley, and often abbreviated to NEV) is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. Geography North East Valley sits in the valley of the Lindsay Creek, a tributary of the Water of Leith and on th ...

with a pair of bridges over the

Water of Leith The Water of Leith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Uisge Lìte'') is the main river flowing near central Edinburgh, Scotland, and flows into the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth. Name The name ''Leith'' may be of Britto ...

. The highway connects with Bank St and

George St George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

then climbs Pine Hill Rd to the northern Dunedin suburb of Pine Hill. From there it follows the northeastern side of the

Leith Valley Leith Valley is a suburb, valley, and general area of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, located to the northwest of the city centre. To differentiate the name of the valley from that of the suburb, the former is usually referred to as ''the'' Leit ...

, then crosses the headwaters of the Leith before traversing the

Leith Saddle 350px, Leith Saddle near Dunedin, New Zealand Leith Saddle is a saddle between the sources of the Water of Leith and the Waitati River, approximately halfway between Dunedin's northern suburb of Pine Hill and the outlying settlement of Waitati. Th ...

and taking a

roller-coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

-like course to the valley of the

Waitati River The Waitati River is a river in New Zealand, flowing into the Pacific Ocean at Blueskin Bay, north of Dunedin. The Dunedin Northern Motorway follows the valley of the Waitati between the Leith Saddle and Waitati. See also *List of rivers of New ...

, then to

Waitati Waitati, from the Māori Waitete, is a small seaside settlement in Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. It is located close to the tidal mudflats of Blueskin Bay, 19 kilometres north of the Dunedin city centre. The small Waitati ...

. Together with The Kilmog, a hill north of Waitati, this is one of the two most notable hill sections of State Highway 1 south of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

'Motorway' status and access

Dunedin–Waitati Highway was officially designated a motorway when it opened on 14 December 1957 and is still colloquially referred to as such. "Motorway" signage was removed and the road lacks any indication of its former status other than "No Cycling/No Pedestrians" signs at Pine Hill and Waitati Valley. Apart from occasional

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

es, it does not resemble a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

, rather a two-to-four-lane undivided

, although cyclists and pedestrians are allowed on the northern section. Dunedin–Waitati Highway is a ''highway'' in terms of traffic regulations, while the land corridor is designated ''motorway'' under the New Zealand ''Government Roading Powers Act'' and

town planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

rules.
When is a motorway not a motorway?
' on blueskin.co.nz news website, retrieved 2011-02-07 an

on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

There are occasional private property accesses along the 15 km length and two at-grade intersections: one at the

summit, with Leith Valley Road and Waitati Valley Road, the other at the lower end of Waitati Valley Road. Intersecting roads all have low traffic volumes and are unsealed. All other road crossings are

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tra ...

bridges A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...

with no road connections, at Maxwellton Street (which links the suburb of Glenleith with both Pine Hill and the summit of Mount Cargill), Leith Valley Road, Dryden Road, and Pigeon Flat Road; the last of these is the only bridge north of the saddle.

Improvements

Several parts of the highway were realigned or widened around 2000, most notably between the Pigeon Flat Overbridge and the start of the

floodplain.

Leith Saddle

Transit New Zealand Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...

signalled in 2004 its long term intention was to re-align SH1 in the vicinity of

, which would require some removal of old-growth forest The forest here features a species of

Libocedrus ''Libocedrus'' is a genus of five species of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to New Zealand and New Caledonia. The genus is closely related to the South American genera ''Pilgerodendron'' and '' Austrocedrus'', and ...

, variously called Pahautea, Kaikawaka or New Zealand cedar, ''

Libocedrus bidwillii ''Libocedrus'' is a genus of five species of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to New Zealand and New Caledonia. The genus is closely related to the South American genera ''Pilgerodendron'' and ''Austrocedrus'', and t ...

'', which is unusual in this region of New Zealand.Wildlife Feature
on

Orokonui Ecosanctuary thumb Orokonui Ecosanctuary, called Te Korowai o Mihiwaka in Māori, is an ecological island wildlife reserve developed by the Otago Natural History Trust in the Orokonui Valley between Waitati and Pūrākaunui, New Zealand, to the north of cen ...

website, retrieved 2009-06-10

stated in 2004 that Leith Saddle has 250% more crashes than average for the

New Zealand state highway network The New Zealand state highway network is the major national highway network in New Zealand. Nearly 100 roads in the North and South Islands are state highways. All state highways are administered by the NZ Transport Agency. The highways were ...

and that the accident rate increased by 50% in the ten years to 2004.

leaflet ''Leith Saddle Realignment'', 2004 They said realignment here would reduce traffic delays, fuel use, crashes, and emissions of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

and

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

Waitati

The motorway originally ended at

with a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

, which featured in the New Zealand film ''

Goodbye Pork Pie ''Goodbye Pork Pie'' is a 1981 New Zealand comedy film directed by Geoff Murphy, co-produced by Murphy and Nigel Hutchinson, and written by Geoff Murphy and Ian Mune. The film was New Zealand's first large-scale local hit. One book described it ...

''. The roundabout has been removed, leaving a sharp curve with a

T junction A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T ...

. In 2010, the

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (commonly known as Waka Kotahi, and abbreviated as NZTA) is a New Zealand Crown entity tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, including the responsibility for driver and vehicle licensing, an ...

(the successor

highway authority A highway authority is a government organization responsible for public roads. India The National Highways Authority of India is the national authority for the management of a network of over 60,000 km of national highways in India. The Autho ...

) was given consent to realign the road here.

References

{{coord, -45.8001, 170.5161, display=title, region:NZ_dim:10000, name=Dunedin-Waitati Highway - nominal location Roads in New Zealand Motorways in New Zealand Transport in Dunedin Two-lane expressways Transport in Otago State Highway 1 (New Zealand) Leith Valley