State Highway 7 (New Zealand)

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.

State Highway 7
Route information
Maintained by NZ Transport Agency
Length272 km (169 mi)
Tourist
routes		Alpine Pacific Triangle between Hanmer Junction and Waipara
Major junctions
East end SH 1 (Omihi Road/Glasnevin Road) at Waipara
West end SH 6 (Cobden Road/Smith Street) at Greymouth
Location
Primary
destinations		Culverden, Maruia Springs, Springs Junction, Reefton
Highway system
← SH 6→ SH 8

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.[1]

Route

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.[2] 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.

On the western side of the pass, the highway enters the small spa town of Maruia Springs, before continuing northwest along the valley of the Maruia River to Springs Junction, where it meets SH 65. From here, the highway crosses a smaller pass, the Rahu Saddle, before following the valley of the Inangahua River to the town of Reefton.

From Reefton, the highway turns southwest at the intersection with SH 69, following the course of the Grey River to within two kilometres of its mouth at Greymouth, where SH 7 terminates at its junction with SH 6.

Spur sections

SH 7 has one spur, designated State Highway 7A. This 9.4 kilometre stretch links State Highway 7 at the Waiau bridge with the alpine thermal resort town of Hanmer Springs.

Major intersections
Territorial authority Location km jct Destinations Notes
Hurunui District Waipara 0 SH 1 north (Omihi Road) – Cheviot, Picton
SH 1 south (Glasnevin Road) – Amberley, Christchurch		 SH 7 begins
Culverden 44 Alpine Pacific Triangle (Rotherham South Road) – Mt Lyford Village, Kaikoura Via the Inland Kaikoura Road
Tekoa Range 67.5 SH 7A (Hanmer Springs Road) – Hanmer Springs
Maruia Springs 130.6 Lewis Pass 864 m (2,835 ft)
Buller District
Springs Junction 151.4 SH 65 (Shenandoah Highway) – Murchison, Nelson
Reefton 195.0 SH 69 (Sinnamon Street) – Westport, Nelson
Ikamatua 223.7 Grey River
Grey District
Ahaura 238.8 Ahaura River
Greymouth 272.3 Mawhera Quay – Greymouth
272.4 SH 6 south (Smith Street) – Hokitika, Haast
SH 6 north (Cobden Road) – Runanga, Westport		 SH 7 ends

SH 7A
Territorial authority Location km jct Destinations Notes
Hurunui District Tekoa Range 0 SH 7 east – Culverden, Christchurch
SH 7 west – West Coast, Nelson (via Lewis Pass)		 SH 7A begins
0.8 Waiau Ferry Bridge (Waiau River)
Hanmer Springs 8 Hanmer Spring Road
Fraser Close		 SH 7A ends

See also

References
  1. "One Network Road Classification: South Island State Highways" (PDF). New Zealand Transport Agency. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  2. NZ Transport Agency FAQs
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