Transportation in New Zealand

The New Zealand State Highway network that provides the backbone infrastructure joining towns together is administered by Transit New Zealand.

Other roads within a town are managed by the local District Council. Other roads may be under the control of the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

Speed limits on the open road are 100 km/h, and throughout residential areas it is 50 km/h. Another common speed limit is 70 km/h, which is used as an intermediate on narrow roads. Speeds are often reduced to 30 km/h beside roadworks.

Contents

7.1 Airports - with paved runways
7.2 Airports - with unpaved runways
7.3 Heliports

8 Reference

9 See Also

Highways

(see New Zealand State Highway network)
total: 92,200 km
paved: 53,568 km (including at least 144 km of expressways)
unpaved: 38,632 km (1996 est.)

Railways

Main article: Railways in New Zealand

There is a total of 3,898 km of railway line in New Zealand, all of it narrow gauge (1.067 m). Of this, 506 km is electrified, (from 2002 data.) The national network is owned by New Zealand Railways Corporation, a government entity; most trains are operated by Toll Rail Ltd.

The national network can be broken up into three main trunk lines, seven secondary main lines and around 90 branch lines. The majority of the latter are now closed. Most lines were constructed by government organisations but a few were of private origin and were later nationalised. Between 1994 and 2003 the national network was owned by Tranz Rail Ltd, which was taken over by Toll Rail Ltd in 2003.

The Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand coordinates the work of approximately 60 heritage line and rail museum operations around the country. Most of these are operated by groups of volunteers and have a historical or tourist focus.

Waterways

1,609 km; of little importance to transportation.

Pipelines

Petroleum products 160 km; natural gas 1,000 km; liquified petroleum gas (LPG) 150 km.

Ports and harbours

Container Ports: Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton (Christchurch), Port Chalmers (Dunedin)
Other Ports: Whangarei, Devonport (Auckland), Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Nelson, Picton, Westport, Greymouth, Timaru, Bluff.
Harbours: Akaroa, Half Moon Bay (Stewart Island), Milford Sound.
Fresh Water: Rotorua (Lake Rotorua), Taupo (Lake Taupo), Queenstown and Kingston (Lake Wakatipu), Te Anau and Manapouri (Lake Manapouri)

Merchant marine

total: 9 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 69,685 GRT/106,627 DWT
ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 2, container 1, petroleum tanker 2, roll-on/roll-off 1 (2002 est.)

Airports

There are 113 airports in New Zealand (2002 est.). The main international airport is Auckland Airport, which handled about 9.4 million passengers in the year to June 30, 2003 [1] (http://archives.californiaaviation.org/airport/msg28149.html)). Christchurch Airport and Wellington Airport each handle about 4 million passengers per year.

Airports - with paved runways

total: 46
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 28
under 914 m: 5 (2002)

Airports - with unpaved runways

total: 67
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 26
under 914 m: 39 (2002)

Heliports

1 (2002)

Reference

Much of the material in this article comes from the CIA World Factbook, 2003 edition.