Western Corridor


The Western Corridor is a road in Christchurch, New Zealand which connects the suburb of Belfast, New Zealand in the north to Hornby in the south and connects the Canterbury region to Christchurch Airport. Most of the traffic on the corridor heads to the city, the airport, Belfast or Hornby, while 15% of traffic travels further north or south.
The route features a four laned semi-urban grade separated & at-grade limited-access road of New Zealand State Highway 1 from The Groynes to the centre of Hornby and provides a motorway bypass of Belfast, connecting the Western Corridor directly to the Christchurch Northern Motorway.

Route

The Western Corridor currently comprises, form north to south, Johns Road, Russley Road, Masham Road and Carmen Road.

Speed limit

The Western Corridor has a speed limit of 80 km/h for most of its length. The only exceptions are the Western Belfast Bypass which has a speed limit of 100 km/h and the 50–60 km/h speed limited southern urban section from the Yaldhurst Road intersection to the terminus at Main South Road.

History

The Western Corridor upgrade was announced by the government as a Road of National Significance in 2009. The section between Avonhead Road and Yaldhurst Road was completed in 2013. The next section to open was further north along the corridor between Sawyers Arms Road and Harewood Road creating a four lane 80 km/h section of highway and restricting McLeans Island Road to a left in, left out intersection.

Sections of the Western Corridor

The Western Corridor consists of multiple sections that were fully completed near to the end of 2017. All sections are listed from north to south: