page_title: State Highway 1 (New Zealand)
section_title: North Island (SH 1N)
hierarchical_section_title: State Highway 1 (New Zealand) / Route / North Island (SH 1N)
caption_attribution_description: English: View looking down on the Ngauranga Gorge Road, with many bends, and fencing on the lower side. There is a laden cart pulled by two horses, centre foreground, with two men sitting on the cart, and a young man standing at the edge of the road. Photograph taken by Albert Percy Godber, 22nd January 1912. This image is a film negative copy taken from the print in Godber Album Vol 110, p 161 (PA1-q-103).
context_page_description: State Highway 1 is the longest and most significant road in the New Zealand road network, running the length of both main islands. It appears on road maps as SH 1 and on road signs as a white number 1 on a red shield, but it has the official designations SH 1N in the North Island, SH 1S in the South Island.
  SH 1 is 2,033 kilometres long, 1,081 km in the North Island and 952 km in the South Island. For the majority of its length it is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, in both rural and urban areas. These sections have some passing lanes. Around 226 km of SH 1 is of motorway or expressway standard as of October 2017: 197 km in the North Island and 28 km in the South Island. Current road construction will see an extra 96 km in the North Island and 6 km in the South Island upgraded to motorway or expressway standard by 2022.
context_section_description: SH 1 starts at Cape Reinga, at the northwestern tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, and since April 2010 has been sealed (mainly with either chipseal or asphalt) for its entire length. From Waitiki Landing south of Cape Reinga, SH 1 travels down the central-eastern side of the peninsula to Kaitaia, New Zealand's northernmost town, before turning south-east across the Northland Peninsula on to Kawakawa in the Bay of Islands, and then south to the city of Whangārei, the largest urban area in Northland.
  At Kawakawa, the two-lane highway shares the same right of way as a heritage railway.
  
  SH 1 then skirts the south-western Whangārei Harbour, nearing the coast briefly at Ruakākā, before proceeding down to wind through the Brynderwyn Hills before approaching the upper reaches of the Kaipara Harbour. The highway crosses into the Auckland Region, and passes through Wellsford and Warkworth, again heading for the east coast.
  Near Puhoi, on the Hibiscus Coast, SH 1 widens to a four-lane motorway known as the Auckland Northern Motorway. The first 7.5 km (4.7 mi) of the motorway is an automated toll road. At Orewa, the motorway becomes toll-free, crossing farmland to the North Shore of Auckland. The road crosses through suburbs to the Waitematā Harbour, which it briefly follows before crossing it by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The motorway comes off the bridge into Auckland's city centre, and forms its western boundary as SH 1 proceeds to the Central Motorway Junction.
  At this junction, SH 1 becomes the Auckland Southern Motorway, and, after sweeping around the southern end of central Auckland, proceeds in a south-easterly direction. The motorway continues in a broadly southeast direction across the Auckland isthmus, then through Manukau and Papakura to the top of the Bombay Hills, just short of the Auckland/Waikato boundary.
  At Bombay, SH 1 becomes the Waikato Expressway, a four-lane dual-carriageway expressway. The expressway takes the highway down the Bombay Hills to Mercer, where SH 1 meets the Waikato River, which it broadly follows for the next 220 km (140 mi). The Waikato Expressway ends in north-western Hamilton. The highway bypasses the city centre to the west, before crossing to the east side and proceeding south-east out of the city. The expressway resumes at Tamahere, bypassing Cambridge to the north before reverting to a single carriageway east of the town. The highway continues eastward to the town of Tīrau, where it turns south to pass through Putāruru and Tokoroa and the surrounding exotic pine plantation forest area.
  At Wairakei, SH 1 takes an eastern route to bypass Taupō and meet the Lake Taupo shoreline south of the town near the airport. SH 1 follows the eastern shore of the lake for 50 km (31 mi) to Tūrangi, at the southern end of the lake.
  Turning southwards again, SH 1 leaves Tūrangi and ascends onto the North Island Volcanic Plateau, passing through the fringes of the Tongariro National Park and into the Rangipo Desert, passing the volcanoes of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro. The road between Rangipo (10 km (6.2 mi) south of Tūrangi) and Waiouru is commonly known as the Desert Road. SH 1 enters the Manawatū-Whanganui Region, and descends through an army training area to the end of the Desert Road at Waiouru.
  From Waiouru, the highway follows tributaries of the Rangitikei River through Taihape to meet the main river at Utiku. It then follows the western bank of the Rangitikei through Ohingaiti and Hunterville to Bulls. At Bulls, SH 1 turns southeast to cross the river, turning southwest again 5 km (3.1 mi) down the road at Sanson. SH 1 crosses the Manawatu Plain, passing the city of Palmerston North about 20 km (12 mi) west of it. It passes through  Foxton, before reaching the end of the plain at Levin.
  From Levin, SH 1 follows the narrowing western coastal plain southwards. The highway crosses into the Wellington Region 15 km (9 mi) south of Levin, before passing through Ōtaki. At Peka Peka, SH 1 widens to a four-lane dual carriageway known as the Kapiti Expressway. The highway bypasses the Kapiti conurbation o
caption: SH1 Ngauranga Gorge, 1912
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