Great South Road, New Zealand

The Great South Road is a major arterial road on the Auckland isthmus and South Auckland. Originally the northern section of the earliest highway between Auckland and Wellington, in the North Island of New Zealand, the road was the main route connecting Auckland to Hamilton. Many former sections of the road have been integrated into the Waikato Expressway. Currently four sections of the road remain: Epsom to Bombay in Auckland, the main street in Pōkeno, the former route of State Highway 1 that links the towns of Huntly, Taupiri, Ngāruawāhia and Horotiu, and the main road in Ōhaupō.

Great South Road

These days, long parts of Great South Road's length are urban or suburban
Length	42.9 km (26.7 mi)
Location	Auckland, New Zealand
North end	Broadway/Manukau Road
South end	Mill Road

History

Many sections of Great South Road were constructed on ara hīkoi; traditional walking paths used by Tāmaki Māori.^[1] The first sections of Great South Road were constructed in 1843.^[2] In 1851, the Tāmaki Bridge was constructed between Ōtāhuhu and Papatoetoe, opening up the south for greater development.^[2] By 1855, the road had reached as far south as Drury, from which a track led towards the Waikato River.^[2] In 1861, Governor George Grey ordered the construction of the Great South Road further into the Waikato, to improve supply lines through swampy and thickly forested country, prior to the Invasion of the Waikato.^[3] The road was constructed by British Army troops, including Dominic Jacotin Gamble, and provided a flow of supplies for the Waikato campaign.^[4] Queen's Redoubt at Pōkeno was a major base of operations for soldiers working on constructing the road.^[5] Approximately 12,000 soldiers were involved in the construction over two years.^[6]

Toll booths were set up along the road in 1866 at Newmarket, Ōtāhuhu and Drury in order to pay for upkeep costs of the Great South Road.^[7] Travellers along the Great South Road complained about the excessive cost of these tolls, which were abolished in 1875.^[2] After the wars, more peaceful uses predominated, and the road became the main social and commercial link to the growing agricultural areas south of Auckland.^[6]

Much of the road between Newmarket and Drury was laid in concrete in the 1920s, up to one foot thick. The road was later covered with asphalt.^[6][8] Originally, the road was marked by milestones, but these are now all believed lost, although there is a ‘22 mile’ milestone marker outside Drury School, in Drury.^[6] The Auckland Southern Motorway has largely superseded Great South Road as a through route, but many parts of the road are still in use, particularly the urban sections.

Route

The road begins in the central Auckland suburb of Epsom, then passes through the suburbs of Greenlane, Penrose, Ōtāhuhu, Papatoetoe, Manukau, Manurewa and Papakura. Leaving the urban sprawl, it heads south through Drury before terminating at Mill Road in Bombay and merging with the Waikato Expressway. Historically it continued, over the Bombay Hills, and followed the east bank of the Waikato River until crossing it at Ngāruawāhia. A section of State Highway 3 through Ōhaupō retains the road's southernmost extension.

Duplicate addresses

Along the 42 km of road, there are many instances of duplicate addresses. The address numbering restarts six times, being differentiated in Google Maps by suburb. For example there are five "1 Great South Road" addresses.^[9]

Major intersections

Local Board	Suburb	km	jct	Destinations	Notes
Albert-Eden	Epsom	0.0		Manukau Road – Royal Oak, Onehunga Alpers Avenue – City Centre Broadway – Newmarket St Marks Road
		1.1		Market Road (east) – Remuera Market Road (west) – Mount Eden
	Greenlane	2.3		Green Lane East – Remuera Green Lane West – Western Springs
		2.7		Woodbine Avenue
		2.8		Campbell Road – Royal Oak
Maungakiekie-Tāmaki	Ellerslie
		2.9		Main Highway – Ellerslie
		3.6		Rockfield Road
		3.9		Central Park business park
	Penrose	4.1		Ellerslie Panmure Highway – Ellerslie
		4.8		Station Road East – Penrose
		5.5		Penrose Road – Mount Wellington
		6.4		South Eastern Highway – Mount Wellington, Pakuranga Church Street – Onehunga, Royal Oak
		6.6		Church Street East
		7.1		Southdown Lane
	Mount Wellington	7.5		Sylvia Park Road – Mount Wellington
		7.9		Vestey Drive
		8.8		Portage Road (east) – Mount Wellington Portage Road (west) – Māngere, Manukau City
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu	Ōtāhuhu
		9.4		Albion Road Huia Road
		9.5		Princes Street
		9.8		Avenue Road Mason Avenue
		10.1		Atkinson Avenue High Street
		10.8		Mangere Road – Māngere, Middlemore Hospital, Airport
Ōtara-Papatoetoe	Papatoetoe	11.8		Bairds Road – Ōtara, MIT
		13.0		Shirley Road
		13.2		East Tamaki Road – Ōtara, East Tāmaki
		13.3		Kolmar Road
		13.5		Sutton Crescent
		13.9		Tui Road St George Street
	Manukau	15.4		Reagan Road Puhinui Road – Airport
		15.9		Ryan Place
		16.1		Te Irirangi Drive – Howick Cavendish Drive – Airport
		16.2		Southpoint retail park
		16.4		Ronwood Avenue
		16.8		Redoubt Road Manukau Station Road – Manukau City Centre	Former SH 20
		17.0		Lakewood Court
Manurewa	Wiri	17.2		from SH 1 (Southern Motorway)
		18.0		Kerrs Road
	Manurewa	18.8		Orams Road – Totara Heights Browns Road – Homai
		20.2		Hill Road
		20.3		Station Road
		20.6		Alfriston Road – Alfriston, Clevedon Weymouth Road – Clendon, Homai
		21.8		Mahia Road – Wattle Downs, Clendon
Papakura	Takanini	22.3		SH 1 north (Southern Motorway) – Auckland
		22.6		SH 1 south (Southern Motorway) – Hamilton
		23.0		Manuroa Road Beaumaris Way
		23.5		Taka Street Walter Strevens Drive
		24.2		Glenora Road
		24.3		The Furlong
		24.7		Walters Road Inlet Road Longford Park Drive
		25.1		Waka Street
	Papakura	26.1		Subway Road
		26.3		O'Shannessey Street
		26.4		Queen Street
		26.5		Broadway Elliot Street
		26.9		Wood Street
		27.1		Wellington Street
	Ōpaheke	27.7		Settlement Road Beach Road
	Drury	31.4		Waihoehoe Road Norrie Road
		32.0		SH 1 south (Southern Motorway) – Hamilton	SH 22 begins
		32.2		SH 1 north (Southern Motorway) – Auckland
Franklin	Bombay	42.5		Mill Road
		42.9		SH 1 south (Waikato Expressway) – Hamilton

See also

• New Zealand state highway network

References

1. Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Area Plan Update (PDF) (Report). Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board, Auckland Council. September 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
2. "Papatoetoe Heritage Trail" (PDF). Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board. 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
3. O'Malley, Vincent (6 December 2016). "'The great war for NZ broke out less than 50 km from Queen St': Vincent O'Malley on the Waikato War and the making of Auckland". The Spinoff. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
4. Roads – Development (from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 1966 Edition. Accessed 19 July 2008.)
5. Prickett, Nigel (2003). "The History and Archaeology of Queen's Redoubt, South Auckland". Records of the Auckland Museum. 40: 5–37. ISSN 1174-9202. JSTOR 42905861. Wikidata Q58623334.
6. "Newmarket Viaduct – Landscape & Urban Design Framework". Transit New Zealand. 7 November 2008. p. Section 5.3.
7. Wichman, Gwen (2001). Soaring Bird: a History of Manurewa to 1965. Manurewa: Manurewa Historical Society. p. 25. ISBN 0-473-07114-2. Wikidata Q117421984.
8. Wichman, Gwen (1990), A brief history of Manurewa, Manurewa: Manurewa Historical Society, p. 6, Wikidata Q117327773
9. Sommerville, Troels. "The Auckland road that's longer than a marathon and has five number ones". Stuff. Stuff. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

External links

• NZ Geographic article
• Dominic Gamble Soldier involved in road construction
• Manukau timeline Archived 22 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine

36.88016°S 174.78288°E / -36.88016; 174.78288