State Highway 8 (New Zealand)

State Highway 8 is one of New Zealand's eight national highways. It forms an anticlockwise loop through the southern scenic regions of the Mackenzie Basin and Central Otago, starting and terminating in junctions with State Highway 1. Distances are measured from north to south.

State Highway 8 shield}}
State Highway 8
Route information
Maintained by NZ Transport Agency
Length457 km (284 mi)
Major junctions
North (clockwise) end SH 1 (Hilton Highway) at Washdyke
Major intersections SH 8A (Bells Lane) to SH 6 near Tarras
SH 8B to SH 6 near Cromwell
South (anticlockwise) end SH 1 at Clarksville
Location
CountryNew Zealand
Primary
destinations		Pleasant Point, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Twizel, Omarama, Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra, Roxburgh, Lawrence
Highway system
← SH 7→ SH 10

For most of its length SH8 is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses directly off the road, both in rural and urban areas.

Route
NZSH 8 runs through rugged terrain, such as the rocky hill country south of Alexandra.
State Highway 8 runs through Lawrence.

Main route

The highway leaves SH1 at Washdyke, an industrial suburb of Timaru, travelling initially northwest through Pleasant Point then continuing to the town of Fairlie. From here the route tends westward and rapidly increases in altitude, passing the southern end of the two great Mackenzie Basin lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki.

From Pukaki the highway turns southwest across the upper reaches of the Waitaki Valley, passing through the former hydroelectricity service town of Twizel and Omarama before again climbing to cross the Lindis Pass, which, at 971 metres, is the highest point on the highway's path. The highway winds along the valley of the Lindis River, reaching the upper Clutha River not far from Tarras.

From here, the highway runs close to the eastern shore of the man-made Lake Dunstan before passing the historic town of Cromwell. The highway turns south as it travels through the Cromwell Gorge passing the country's third largest hydroelectric dam, the Clyde Dam at Clyde. The highway continues along the Clutha Valley through the town of Alexandra and past Lake Roxburgh to the town of Roxburgh. Much of this part of the highway's journey is past fruit orchards, and historic gold-diggings from the Central Otago Gold Rush.

From Roxburgh, the highway turns southeastward, passing Ettrick, Raes Junction and Beaumont, where it turns away from the Clutha, before reaching Lawrence, close to the original strike in the Central Otago Gold Rush. From here, the highway continues past Waitahuna and the twisting Manuka Gorge, reaching the plain of the Tokomairaro River at Clarksville, three kilometres south of Milton.

Spur sections
Deadmans Point bridge, looking towards Cromwell

State Highway 8 has two spurs: State Highway 8A and State Highway 8B. These two spurs connect the highway with State Highway 6, which lies on the western bank of Lake Dunstan. State Highway 8A runs for 23 km from SH 6 at Luggate to connect with SH8 close to Tarras. State Highway 8B runs for just 2.6 km from SH8 at Deadmans Point across the lake to the town of Cromwell. SH 8B forms part of the main route between Queenstown and Christchurch.

Route changes

The course of SH8 between Clyde and Tarras was substantially altered during the 1980s as part of the construction of the Clyde Dam, which flooded much of the Cromwell Gorge, including the former route of the highway. A completely new section was built between Clyde and Cromwell; for SH8B the old single-lane bridge crossing the Clutha was replaced with a new two-lane bridge approximately 1.5 km to the north.

History

The southern end of SH8 between Clarksville and Cromwell roughly follows the route taken by many miners and prospectors during the Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s. Many of the important sites of the gold rush lie close to the Highway and the Kawarau Gorge which extends to the northwest from Cromwell. These include the town of Lawrence, which was the hub of prospecting around the original gold strike at Gabriel's Gully.

The former Roxburgh Branch rail line ran roughly parallel with the highway's southern course for much of its length.

Statistics

In 2006, SH8 had an annual average daily traffic volume (AADT – daily estimate) of between 1,188 vehicles at Bendigo, and 4,897 vehicles on the Clyde side of Alexandra. Over the eleven sites measured, between 9.0% and 15.3% of the vehicles were classified as heavy (3.5 tonnes or greater). For the spurs, SH8A AADT ranged from 646 to 858 vehicles, while the volume of vehicles on SH8B was 3,930 on Deadmans Point Bridge, and 4,500 near the SH6 junction.[1]

Major intersections
Territorial authorityLocationkmmiDestinationsNotes
Timaru DistrictWashdyke00.0 SH 1 north – Temuka, Christchurch
SH 1 south – Timaru, Dunedin		SH 8 begins
Mackenzie DistrictFairlie5735 SH 79 – Geraldine, Christchurch
Burkes Pass8352Burkes Pass 706 m (2,316 ft)
Lake Pukaki14691 SH 80 – Glentanner, Aoraki / Mount Cook
Waitaki DistrictOmarama185115 SH 83 – Kurow, Oamaru
Waitaki District / Central Otago District boundaryLindis Pass219136Lindis Pass 972 m (3,189 ft)
Central Otago DistrictTarras267166 SH 8A – Wanaka, West Coast
Cromwell294183 SH 8B – Cromwell, Queenstown
Alexandra328204 SH 85 – Ranfurly, Dunedin
Central Otago District / Clutha District boundaryRaes Junction397247 SH 90 – Tapanui, Gore
Clutha DistrictClarksville460290 SH 1 north – Milton, Dunedin
SH 1 south – Balclutha, Invercargill		SH 8 ends

See also

References
  1. "Traffic Data Booklet 2002 – 2006" (PDF). Transit New Zealand. May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
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