State Highway 4 is the shortest of New Zealand's eight

national highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...

. It runs north-south across rugged hill country, forming a short cut between two points on State Highway 3 thereby avoiding

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

and the coasts of the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Taranaki Bight The South Taranaki Bight is a large bay on the west coast of New Zealand, south of Taranaki, west of the Manawatu, north and west of the western entrance of Cook Strait and north of the South Island. The name is sometimes used for a much smaller ...

s. Distances are measured from north to south. For most of its length SH4 is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, both in rural and urban areas. 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 ...

(NZTA) classifies SH 4 as a primary collector road, except between National Park (SH 47) and Tohunga Junction (SH 49) where it is classified an arterial road.

Route

The highway commences from a junction on SH 3 11 km south of Te Kuiti. It heads south-southeast, climbing initially, then descending along the winding valleys of the

Ōhura Ōhura is a small town in the west of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the west of Taumarunui in the area known as the King Country, in inland Manawatū-Whanganui. It lies on the banks of the Mangaroa Stream, a tributary of th ...

and Ongarue Rivers, two tributaries of the

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

. The Ongarue joins the Whanganui close to

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of ...

, and here the highway turns east briefly, ascending the Whanganui's valley before turning south to skirt the

North Island Volcanic Plateau The North Island Volcanic Plateau (often called the Central Plateau and occasionally the Waimarino Plateau) is a volcanic plateau covering much of central North Island of New Zealand with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes. It contains t ...

. The peaks of the plateau's volcanoes are clearly visible from the highway, especially that of the southernmost, Ruapehu. At Horopito the highway veers southwest briefly, following a tributary of the

Mangawhero River The Mangawhero River is in the North Island of New Zealand. It drains the south-western slopes of Mount Ruapehu, passes through Ohakune before discharging into the Whangaehu River to the south-west of Mangamahu. History The name Mangawhero ...

until it joins with this river near

Raetihi Raetihi, a small town in the center of New Zealand's North Island, is located at the junction of State Highways 4 and 49 in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. It lies in a valley between Tongariro and Whanganui National Parks, 11 kilometres west ...

. The highway continues to descend the Mangawhero's valley to within 40 km of its mouth, then heads west across rolling hill country to the valley of the Whanganui River, which it follows for the last 15 km of its journey into

Major junctions

References

External links

New Zealand Transport Agency
{{New Zealand State Highway navbox 4

Route

Major junctions

See also

References

External links