State Highway 74 (New Zealand)

The highway begins immediately north of Belfast, with ramps connecting to the Western Bypass of the Christchurch Northern Motorway on State Highway 1. It then proceeds in a southerly direction, following Main North Road through the suburbs of Belfast, Northwood and Redwood.

At Northcote, the highway turns left onto Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Drive and begins its concurrency with the Christchurch Ring Road. As a two lane expressway, QEII Drive skirts through the northern suburbs of Christchurch, with major intersections at Innes Road and Marshland Road. After the Burwood Road traffic lights, the road changes name to Travis Road, loses expressway status, and runs in an easterly direction to the Anzac Drive/Frosts Road roundabout, where the highway turns right.

Now known as Anzac Drive, the road returns to expressway status and runs through the suburbs of Aranui and Bexley until reaching the Breezes Road/Bridge Street Roundabout. After the roundabout, the road changes name to Dyers Road. At Palinurus Road, the concurrency with the Ring Road ends, but Dyers Road keeps going in a southerly direction until the Ferry Road roundabout.

After the roundabout, the highway changes name to Tunnel Road and turns into a motorway, and passes through two interchanges before passing through the Lyttelton road tunnel. (For more information on this section go to Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway)

In Lyttelton, the road changes name to Norwich Quay and acts as the main thoroughfare through the town and its associated port before terminating at the port gates as Gladstone Quay.

The route of SH 74 has been rearranged quite frequently for a State Highway, initially gazetted in 1964 upon the opening of the Lyttelton Road Tunnel, it only consisted of the motorway and the short section through Lyttelton.

When State Highway 1 through Christchurch was rerouted to bypass the city in the early 1990s, State Highways 73 and 74 were extended to cover much of the original route, with SH 74 initially continuing through at QEII Drive/Northcote Road to travel via Cranford and Sherborne Streets. In Christchurch CBD, the route turned left onto Bealey Avenue and then onto the parallel one-way roads Madras and Barbadoes Street. The road then turned left onto Moorhouse Avenue and then right onto Waltham Road before turning left again onto Brougham Street. The road then proceeded in a south-easterly direction until the Port Hills Road interchange with Tunnel Road.[1] In 2004, the route was realigned to its current route, with much of the previous route either revoked or taken over by SH 73.[2]

In November 2017, the Christchurch Northern Motorway's Western Bypass was opened, taking State Highway 1 to the west of Belfast, and State Highway 74's route was extended north along SH1's previous route up Main North Road from the Johns Road intersection to the previously existing motorway.[3]

With the recent designation of the Christchurch northern corridor as a road of national significance,[4] there are plans underway to create the expressway Northern Arterial Road, which will bypass the northern suburbs of Redwood and Belfast as well as turning both the QEII Drive and Travis Road sections of SH 74 into dual carriageways.[5]

For Tunnel Road's major intersection, refer to Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway

Territorial authority	Location	km	jct	Destinations	Notes
Christchurch City	Belfast	0		SH 1 (Christchurch Northern Motorway)	SH 74 begins Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
		2.4		(Johns Road)	Previous northern end of highway. Leads to SH1 for southbound exit
		3.8		(Radcliffe Road) (Northwood Boulevard) – Northwood
	Styx	4.5		(Styx Mill Road)
	Redwood	5.3		(Prestons Road) – Marshland, Burwood
		5.8		(Daniels Road)
	Northcote	6.5		(Main North Road) – Papanui, City Centre (Northcote Road) – Bishopdale, Ilam
	Mairehau			SH 74 north (Christchurch Northern Motorway extension) Cranford Street extension	Under construction
		9.7		(Innes Road) – Mairehau, Saint Albans
	Marshland	10.3		(Marshland Road) – Kaiapoi, Shirley
	New Brighton	13.7		(Frosts Road) – Parklands (Travis Road) – North New Brighton
		14.5		(New Brighton Road) – New Brighton, Dallington, City Centre
		14.6		Avon River / Ōtākaro Bridge
	Wainoni	15.2		(Wainoni Road) – New Brighton, Wainoni, Linwood
	Bexley	16.4		(Pages Road) – New Brighton, Linwood, City Centre
	Bromley	18.0		(Bridge Street) – South New Brighton (Breezes Road) – Aranui, City Centre
		21.2		(Linwood Avenue) – Ferrymead, Sumner, Linwood, City Centre
	Woolston	21.7		SH 74A (Palinurus Road) – Woolston, City Centre
		22.0		(Ferry Road) – Sumner, Woolston, City Centre	Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway (Tunnel Road) begins
		22.1		Heathcote River / Ōpāwaho Bridge
	Heathcote	24.3		SH 76 (Port Hills Road) – Healthcote, Opawa, City Centre
		26.0		(Bridle Path Road) – Heathcote	Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
		26.1		Lyttelton Road Tunnel (1.97 km (1.22 mi))
	Lyttelton	28.1
		28.1		(Simeon Quay) – Naval Point, Governors Bay	Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway (Tunnel Road) ends
		28.5		(Oxford Street) – Town Centre, Sumner
28.8			(Gladstone Quay) – Port	SH 74 ends

State Highway 74A is a minor Christchurch arterial road connecting the southeastern industrial suburbs of Bromley and Woolston. It was gazetted as a new state highway in 2003 at the same time SH 74 was shifted to its current location.[2] It is just over 2 kilometres long and consists of three roads - Garlands Road, Palinurus Road and Rutherford Street. It runs concurrent with the Christchurch Ring Road for its entire length.

Major Intersections

Territorial authority	Location	km	jct	Destinations	Notes
Christchurch City	Woolston	0		SH 74 north (Dyers Road) – Bromley, New Brighton, Picton SH 74 south (Dyers Road) – Lyttelton	SH 74A begins
		0.5		(Ferry Road) – Sumner, Woolston, City Centre
		0.7		Heathcote River
	Opawa	1.9		Lyttelton Line
		2.1		SH 76 east (Opawa Road) – Lyttelton SH 76 west (Opawa Road) – Waltham, City Centre	SH 74A ends

• Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway

• New Zealand Transport Agency
• State Highway 74 on Google Maps
• State Highway 74A on Google Maps