Skip to main content

Story: West Coast region

Road through the Ōtira gorge

Image
Road through the Ōtira gorge

Rockfalls and screes have been a hazard for road construction and maintenance through the Ōtira gorge, west of Arthur’s Pass. For more than 100 years a winding section of the road (known as ‘the zig-zag’) skirted around the top of a landslide (above). In 2001 this was replaced by a viaduct (below), close to the Ōtira River beneath the zig-zag.

Using this item

GNS Science

Reference: CN35817/25 and CN43352/23

by Lloyd Homer

Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Simon Nathan, West Coast region – Transport and communication, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21132/road-through-the-otira-gorge (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Simon Nathan, published 3 March 2009, updated 1 September 2016.