State Highway 21 (New Zealand)
State Highway 21 is a short stretch of highway in the North Island of New Zealand. It links, Waikato Expressway at Tamahere and at Ōhaupō. Its main destination is Hamilton Airport and Mystery Creek, where the National Agricultural Fieldays are held.
SH 21 was gazetted as a brand new state highway designation in 1997.
Oddities
SH 21 is actually south of where the number is supposed to be when considering the general pattern of assigning increasing state highway numbers in a north–south direction; in reality, it should lie somewhere in South Auckland. This southern placement makes SH 21 the second-most southern SH 2x highway, after.At the exit to Hamilton Airport, SH 21 used to show Hamilton to be in both directions, and was possibly the only place in the State Highway network in which this happened. In 2015 the signs were updated to show Hamilton to the left, and the route to the right is now on a separate sign reading "Hamilton via State Highway 3".
Narrows Bridge
The first bridge opened on 12 February 1879, costing £999 17s 4d, with a £300 government subsidy, £90 each from Waipa and Waikato County Councils and the rest paid by donations, paid by a long list of subscribers from 1878. It lasted until blown up in 1940.Its reinforced concrete replacement, supported by a steel arch, opened in December 1939. It is from the Tamahere end of SH21 with a road width of wide, plus a footpath, which cost £5,660 and was designed by Jones and Adams. It was given a NZHPT Category 2 historic listing in 1985. The river banks were soil nailed in 2010 to protect the foundations. The effect of the works can be seen in the AADT figures – 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.