Christchurch–Lyttelton Motorway

Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway
Route information
Maintained by New Zealand Transport Agency
Length: 6.1 km (3.8 mi)
Existed: 1964 – present
Major junctions
North end: Dyers Road at Woolston, New Zealand
To: Norwich Quay at Lyttelton, New Zealand
Location
Major cities: Woolston, Ferrymead, Heathcote, Lyttelton, New Zealand
Highway system

The Christchurch–Lyttelton Motorway, also known as Tunnel Road, is part of the road network connecting Christchurch, New Zealand with its port at Lyttelton.

Route

The northern terminus is a roundabout on Ferry Road, a few hundred metres southeast of an intersection with the Christchurch ring route. The motorway immediately crosses the Heathcote river and is carried on an embankment south across its swampy floodplain. The northern section is two lane, unlit and is relatively lightly trafficked, with the majority of traffic entering at a grade-separated parclo interchange with Port Hills Road which connects via the Opawa Expressway to the north and west. South of the interchange the motorway climbs the western side of the Heathcote Valley, with a crawler lane and passing though some cuttings. The access road to Horotane valley, a side valley of the Heathcote, passes beneath the motorway, connecting to Port Hills Road which continues in parallel to the motorway.

At the head of the Heathcote Valley is the north entrance to the Lyttelton road tunnel, with a southbound on-ramp and northbound off-ramp to Bridle Path road. The tunnel's toll plaza was located here prior to the abolition of tolls in 1979.[1] The speed limit is restricted to 50 km/h in the Lyttelton Road Tunnel. The motorway terminates at a roundabout immediately at the Lyttelton end of the tunnel.

History

The 6.1 km road was completed in 1964 with the opening of the Lyttelton road tunnel, the country's longest road tunnel. It is designated a motorway, with pedestrians and cyclists excluded, although for the most part the road is 2-3 lane undivided carriageway.

Initially the road plus a short extension through Lyttelton to the wharves constituted the entirety of State Highway 74. However to facilitate national funding of major Christchurch roading developments the highway designation was extended and now runs around the northern half of the Christchurch ring route plus part of the old route of State Highway 1 to terminate at Belfast, a total of 26 km [2]

Interchanges

Tunnel Road
Northbound exits Distance to
Christchurch CBD
(km)
Distance to
Lyttelton
(km)
Southbound exits
End Tunnel Road
continues as Dyers Road
to Burwood, Belfast
5.5 6.5 Start Tunnel Road
from Dyers Road
Christchurch CBD, Woolston, Sumner
Ferry Road
Sumner, Woolston, Christchurch CBD
Ferry Road
HEATHCOTE RIVER BRIDGE
5.5 6.5 HEATHCOTE RIVER BRIDGE
RAIL LINE
7 5 RAIL LINE
Opawa, Hornby, Greymouth, Heathcote
Port Hills Road
Scruttons Road
7.5 4.5 Heathcote, Opawa, Hornby, Greymouth
Scruttons Road
Port Hills Road
Heathcote, Ferrymead
Bridle Path Road
9 3 no exit
LYTTELTON ROAD TUNNEL 9-11 1-3 LYTTELTON ROAD TUNNEL
Governors Bay, Lyttelton
Simeon Quay
Norwich Quay
11 1 Lyttelton, Governors Bay
Norwich Quay
Simeon Quay
CONTINUES AS Norwich Quay
to Lyttelton

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, August 20, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.