One of New Zealand’s best known alpine roads is Arthur's Pass, State Highway 73, connecting Canterbury to the West Coast of New Zealand.
The road summit reaches 920m (3,018 ft) above sea level and named after the original surveyor Arthur Dobson, whose memorial is located at the pass.
The road was opened on 20 March 1866, previously prone and blocked by landslides or avalanches, the road on the western side of the pass has seen extensive civil engineering work in the late 1990’s. Most notably, the impressive Otira viaduct near the settlement of Otira, spanning 440 metres of unstable terrain. The viaduct was completed in 1999.
