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State Highway 49 | ||||
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Route information | ||||
Maintained by NZ Transport Agency | ||||
Length | 36.2 km (22.5 mi) | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | ![]() | |||
East end | ![]() | |||
Location | ||||
Primary destinations | Ohakune | |||
Highway system | ||||
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State Highway 49 (SH 49) is a New Zealand state highway, linking SH 4 and SH 1, via the tourist town of Ohakune. It forms the southern part of the ring road surrounding Tongariro National Park and provides access to the southern side of Mount Ruapehu and the Turoa skifield. It roughly follows the North Island Main Trunk railway.
SH 49, along with SH 4, 47, and 46, is used as an alternative route to SH 1 and the Desert Road, and is well used when the Desert Road is closed due to snow.
SH 49 lies entirely within the Ruapehu District.
SH 49 leaves SH 4 at Tohunga Junction, some eight kilometres north of Raetihi, and heads southeast across rolling hills to the tourist town of Ohakune. Following Ohakune's main street, the road continues southeast out of the township, passing Ohakune's famous giant carrot.
SH 49 continues southeast across rolling hills, running broadly in the same direction as the North Island Main Trunk. It passes the rural villages of Rangataua and Karioi, before meeting the railway line at the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai. The bridge here has flashing lights and gates to block off the road in case of a lahar from Mount Ruapehu's crater lake. To the side of the bridge is the Tangiwai memorial, erected to remember the 151 people who died in the Tangiwai disaster when a Wellington to Auckland express train plunged into the river following a lahar on 24 December 1953.
After crossing the Whangaehu River, and the railway line, SH 49 turns east for several kilometres, before turning south into Waiouru. At Waiouru, SH 49 ends at the intersection with SH 1.
SH 49 used to have one spur; SH 49A. It deviated from SH 49 at Ohakune, and ran west to Raetihi, where it terminated at State Highway 4. SH 49A was revoked in 1991–92.
The highway lies entirely within the Ruapehu District.
Location | km | jct | Destinations | Notes |
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Tohunga Junction | 0 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | SH 49 begins |
Ohakune | ![]() | Goldfinch Street – Turoa skifield | ||
![]() | Raehiti Ohakune Road – Raetihi | Former SH 49A | ||
Tangiwai | 29 | ![]() | Whangaehu River | |
Waiouru | 38 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | SH 49 ends |
Mount Ruapehu is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. It is 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Ohakune and 23 km (14 mi) southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupo, within Tongariro National Park. The North Island's major ski resorts and only glaciers are on its slopes.
The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953 when the Whangaehu River bridge collapsed beneath Wellington-to-Auckland express passenger train No. 626 at Tangiwai, in the central North Island of New Zealand. The locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The subsequent Board of Inquiry found that the accident was caused by the collapse of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu's crater lake, creating a large lahar in the Whangaehu River, which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident.
Tangiwai is a rural community in the Ruapehu District of the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located east of Ohakune and Rangataua and west of Waiouru on State Highway 49.
Waiouru is a small town in the Ruapehu District, in New Zealand's Manawatu-Wanganui region. It is located on the south-eastern North Island Volcanic Plateau, 130 km (81 mi) north of Palmerston North and 25 kilometres south-east of Mount Ruapehu. The town has a June 2018 population of 930.
National Park is a small town on the North Island Central Plateau in New Zealand. Also known as National Park Village, it is the highest urban township in New Zealand, at 825 metres. Its name derives from its location just outside the boundary of Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's first national park, and its only national park from its creation in 1887 until 1900. The village has great views of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu.
Tongariro National Park is the oldest national park in New Zealand, located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site of mixed cultural and natural values.
Ohakune is a small town in the North Island of New Zealand, situated 215 kilometres north of Wellington and 292 kilometres south of Auckland. It is located at the southern end of the Tongariro National Park, close to the southwestern slopes of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu. Located within the Manawatu-Wanganui region, the town is 70 kilometres northeast of Wanganui and 25 kilometres west of Waiouru.
The North Island Volcanic Plateau is a volcanic plateau covering much of central North Island of New Zealand with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes.
Rangipo Desert is a barren desert-like environment in New Zealand, located in the Ruapehu District on the North Island Volcanic Plateau; to the east of the three active peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu, and to the west of the Kaimanawa Range.
Raetihi is a town in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the junction of State Highways 4 and 49, 11 kilometres west of Ohakune. The 2013 New Zealand census recorded its population as 1,002. This constitutes a decrease of 3.2% or 33 people since the 2006 census. 65.3% of residents identified as Māori, 55% European, 2.7% Pacific and 1.2% Asian. The Waimarino district stretches from Mount Ruapehu to the Wanganui River encompassing Raetihi, Pipiriki, Karioi, Horopito, Waiouru, Rangataua and Ohakune. There is evidence of Maori people living here in the fourteenth century. The Ngati Uenuku dwelled at Raetihi and Waimarino. There is little evidence of large permanent settlements but hunting parties were common during warmer months.
The Whangaehu River is a large river in central North Island of New Zealand. Its headwaters are the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu on the central plateau, and it flows into the Tasman Sea eight kilometres southeast of Whanganui. Water is diverted from the headwaters for the Tongariro Power Scheme.
Ruapehu District is a territorial authority in the centre of New Zealand's North Island.
The Eastern Ruapehu Lahar Alarm and Warning System, or ERLAWS, is a lahar warning system that was installed on Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand following volcanic eruptions in 1995–1996. The system successfully detected and warned of an imminent lahar in March 2007. The system is being expanded to detect the wider range of lahar threats now expected on Ruapehu.
Mangamahu is a hill-country farming and forestry community in the middle reaches of the Whangaehu River valley, in the Rangitikei District of Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand. It is centred on the village of Mangamahu, which is situated on river flats where the Mangamahu stream flows into the Whangaehu river. Mangamahu has a primary school which has been open since 1894 and a War Memorial hall built in 1952.
State Highway 4 is the shortest of New Zealand's eight national highways. It runs north-south across rugged hill country, forming a short cut between two points on State Highway 3 thereby avoiding Taranaki and the coasts of the North and South Taranaki Bights. Distances are measured from north to south.
The bridges in New Zealand are many and varied but only date back to the beginning of European settlement in the mid 19th century.
The Tongariro Power Scheme is a 360 MW hydroelectricity scheme in the central North Island of New Zealand. The scheme is currently operated by electricity generation company Genesis Energy.
The Wahianoa River is a river of the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of New Zealand's North Island. One of the headwaters of the Whangaehu River, it flows southeast from the southern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, gradually veering southwest before meeting the Whangaehu 3 kilometres (2 mi) northwest of Waiouru.
Rangataua is a small village in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of both the Tongariro National Park and Rangataua State Forest, adjacent to the southwestern slopes of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu. Part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region, the town is 5 kilometres east of Ohakune, 75 kilometres northeast of Wanganui, and 20 kilometres west of Waiouru.
The Makatote Viaduct takes the North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) across the Makatote River. It is 335.7 km (208.6 mi) from Wellington, at the foot of Ruapehu, in northern Manawatu-Wanganui, between National Park and Ohakune.