New Zealand State Highway 77

State Highway 77
Inland Scenic Route
Route information
Maintained by New Zealand Transport Agency
Length:	93.9 km (58.3 mi)
Major junctions
Northwest end:	South Terrace/West Coast Road at Darfield
Southeast end:	West Street at Ashburton
Location
Primary destinations:	Coalgate, Glentunnel, Rakaia Gorge, Methven
Highway system
New Zealand State Highways Motorways and Expressways • List • Unused

State Highway 77 is a State Highway in New Zealand going through the inland parts of Central and Mid Canterbury between the towns of Ashburton and Darfield via the Rakaia Gorge. It is wholly single carriageway with two one-lane bridges at the Rakaia and Selwyn Rivers. One set of traffic lights is found in Ashburton marking the southern terminus of the highway.

About 43 km of the highway lie on the Inland Scenic Route (formerly State Highway 72).

Route

State Highway 77 passing over the Rakaia Gorge Bridge, which was built in 1882

Much of State Highway 77 is dominated by the skyline of the Southern Alps and Canterbury foothills. Mount Hutt is especially noticeable from SH 77

This is the current route of SH 77 as of June 2010.

The highway begins as Bangor Road just west of Darfield town centre, and proceeds in a westerly directions towards the mountains through flat pastoral farmland. Just before reaching the foothills, the road intersects with the Inland Scenic Route (Deans Road) coming from Waddington and begins its concurrency at Homebush. After a name change to Homebush Road, the road skirts to the north of Coalgate and then to the south of Glentunnel before veering left and narrowing to one lane to cross the Selwyn River.

Now known as Wairiri Road, the road widens back to two lanes and passes through undulating to hilly farmland. At Glenroy the road changes name to Windwhistle Road and climbs towards the settlement of Windwhistle.

Beyond Windwhistle, the name changes to Rakaia Gorge Road and begins a spectacular descent into the Rakaia Gorge. For most of its length the Rakaia River runs on shingle river beds as a braided river but here the river is mostly a single channel. The river here has carved out the surrounding land to form two level terraces. The road passes over both these terraces before narrowing to one lane again to cross the river.

After widening again, the road changes name to Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road and rises towards the plains again. The road emerges onto the plains but passes right underneath the towering Mount Hutt. The road is frequently covered by snow and ices over in sheltered areas during the calmer periods of the winter months in higher parts of the road.

The road turns left onto Waimarama Road 10 km north of Alford Forest and proceeds through arable farmland, changes name again to Mount Hutt Station Road and arrives in Methven, where it changes name again to Main Street.

After Methven, the road changes name to Methven Highway and proceeds in a south to southeasterly direction through more pastoral farmland. Before Ashburton, the road hugs the Ashburton River, the name of the road changes to Alford Forest Road for about 2 km, then to River Terrace for 600 m and lastly to Moore Street for the last 300 m of the route before terminating at SH 1 in the town centre.

Major Intersections

State Highway 77
Northbound exits	Distance to Darfield (km)	Distance to Ashburton (km)	Southbound exits
Darfield End as Bangor Road	0	93.9	Darfield Start as Bangor Road
Greymouth, Waddington, Kirwee, Christchurch West Coast Road South Terrace			Christchurch, Kirwee, Waddington, Greymouth South Terrace West Coast Road
Waddington, Oxford Deans Road (Inland Scenic Route)	7.8	86.1	Waddington, Oxford Deans Road (Inland Scenic Route)
End concurrency with Inland Scenic Route Name change to Bangor Road			Start concurrency with Inland Scenic Route Name change to Homebush Road
Coalgate, Hororata Bridge Street	11.1	82.8	Coalgate, Hororata Bridge Street
Coalgate	11.8	82.1	Coalgate
Glentunnel	14.2	79.7	Glentunnel
Whitecliffs Whitecliffs Road	14.7	79.2	Whitecliffs Whitecliffs Road
Name change to Homebush Road			Name change to Wairiri Road
SELWYN RIVER	14.8	79.1	SELWYN RIVER
Hororata Downs Road	23.9	70.0	Hororata Downs Road
Name change to Wairiri Road			Name change to Windwhistle Road
Windwhistle Name change to Windwhistle Road	34.0	59.9	Windwhistle Name change to Rakaia Gorge Road
Lake Coleridge, Te Pirita, Hororata Coleridge Road Leaches Road	34.6	59.3	Hororata, Te Pirita, Lake Coleridge Leaches Road Coleridge Road
Rakaia Gorge RAKAIA RIVER Enter Selwyn District Name change to Rakaia Gorge Road	40.5	53.4	Rakaia Gorge RAKAIA RIVER Enter Ashburton District Name change to Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road
Methven Mount Hutt Station Road (shortcut)	44.9	49.0	Methven Mount Hutt Station Road (shortcut)
Timaru, Mayfield[disambiguation needed ], Mount Hutt Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road (Inland Scenic Route) McLennans Bush Road	50.4	43.5	Mount Hutt, Mayfield[disambiguation needed ], Timaru McLennans Bush Road Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road (Inland Scenic Route)
Name change to Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road Start concurrency with Inland Scenic Route			Name change to Waimarama Road End concurrency with Inland Scenic Route
Rakaia Gorge Mount Hutt Station Road (shortcut)	57.3	36.6	Rakaia Gorge Mount Hutt Station Road (shortcut)
Name change to Waimarama Road			Name change to Mount Hutt Station Road
Name change to Mount Hutt Station Road	59.3	34.6	Name change to Main Street
Highbank, Barrhill Hall Street	59.9	34.0	Highbank, Barrhill Hall Street
Methven	60.0	33.9	Methven
Alford Forest, Lyndhurst, Lauriston Forest Drive Methven Chertsey Road			Lyndhurst, Lauriston, Alford Forest Methven Chertsey Road Forest Drive
Name change to Main Street	60.8	33.1	Name change to Methven Highway
Mount Somers, Rakaia Thompsons Track	71.6	22.3	Rakaia, Mount Somers Thompsons Track
Westerfield, Lauriston Ollivers Road Winchmore Lauriston Road	81.8	12.1	Lauriston, Westerfield Winchmore Lauriston Road Ollivers Road
Racecourse Road	88.1	5.8	Racecourse Road
Allenton, Netherby Harrison Street	90.9	3.0	Allenton, Netherby Harrison Street
Name change to Methven Highway	91.1	2.8	Name change to Alford Forest Road
Allenton, Ashburton Oak Grove Havelock Street	92.8	1.1	Allenton, Ashburton Havelock Street Oak Grove
Name change to Alford Forest Road			Name change to River Terrace
Name change to River Terrace	93.5	0.4	Name change to Moore Street
Timaru, Tinwald, Chertsey, Christchurch West Street	93.9	0.0	Christchurch, Chertsey, Tinwald, Timaru West Street
Ashburton End continues as Moore Street to Hampstead, Wakanui

External links

• View from Rakaia Gorge Bridge - Google Street View
• State Highway 77 on Google Maps