SH40 (New Zealand)

The SH40 connected SH3 and SH4, via a thinly populated region around Ohura. At one time this had been an important coal mining district, but after the mines closed in the 1960s, the area declined and in the early 1990s SH40 was downgraded to be a local road. The only other State Highway which SH40 met was SH43 which formerly started in Ohura, but was rerouted when SH40 was downgraded. The western section of the route is still largely a gravel road.

The route started on SH3 at Ahititi, a short distance upstream from the coast on the Tongapurutu River. At first the road follows the rivers meanders up stream, before two bridges cut across another loop. Staying on the rivers south bank, and often pinched between the river and the steep valley side, the road continues westwards, passing scattered houses but nothing that could really be called a village. After a long sweeping bend, the road finally gives up its tarred surface and for the next 7km as the route winds through the thickly forested hills, the road is unsurfaced. However, when the gradient increases and the bends tighten, the road becomes surfaced once more for about 4km.

Suddenly, the road emerges from the forest into open country, and the tar comes to an end once more. For the next 20km the road is unsealed, as it first crosses a vast upland ringed with forest, before entering the trees once more and climbing higher to a summit of over 500m. There are just a handful of properties along this stretch, and even if it were surfaced it is likely that it would only attract tourist traffic, which is currently not allowed along the route if it is using rental vehicle. Once back in the trees, the bends tighten once more as the road finds the easiest route to the summit, before a steeper descent winds back down through the forest and out onto the open hillside below.

The former SH40 passing through Ohura

The surface resumes just before a junction a few kilometres west of Ohura, and continues for the remainder of the route. Ohura is virtually a ghost town, the dualled main street lined with boarded up and derelict shops and businesses, some of which still display stock from the 1960s. There are still some residents, and some of the buildings are clean and tidy, obviously cared for, but there are too few people to make much of a difference in a town which once had a population of nearly a thousand. The road meets the main street towards the south end of the 'town centre', and turns left, along the main street, over the river and out of town.

After crossing a low pass, following the railway, through a small ridge, the road emerges into the next valley and follows the river upstream. This is a fabulous road to drive, with very little traffic and lots of sweeping bends, with some stunning scenery. The problems of Ohura are not localised to the town, but spread across the whole area, with derelict houses and boarded up shops passed for some distance. The road stays close to the winding river for some time, before turning away to the north east to reach the small village of Matiere.

The road then turns round to head south east and winds through the low hills to reach the junction at Tuhua. Here, running north once more, it follows another series of valleys, crossing low hills as it jumps from one to the next, to finally reach SH4 at a junction in the middle of nowhere, near Mangatupoto Bridge.