The terrifyingly steep curve at the top of Main St. Photo / File
The terrifyingly steep curve at the top of Main St. Photo / File
Hey, what's 1.4 per cent anyway?
In terms of determining a steep stretch of residential road, it may not seem much - but it is.
Up until a couple of months ago, before the Welsh surveyors stepped up to the mark, Baldwin St in Dunedin was proudly presented as the steepest street in the world with a gradient from top to bottom of 35 per cent (or 19 degrees).
It was a great attraction for visitors to wander to, and wonder at, with its houses stepped almost miraculously to remain level.
But there had long been rumblings across the Welsh valleys that a small town in Harlech called Ffordd Pen Llech was steeper, and after specialist surveyors began the measurement process last year it was eventually determined it would take the steepest crown.
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It came in at 37.5 per cent at its steepest point, 2 per cent more than Dunedin's residential slope.
That discovery led the Guinness Book of Record's editor-in-chief Craig Glenday to praise the "sheer willpower" of the local community in Harlech to achieve the title.
The sign on Napier Hill for the steepest (unofficial) street in the land. Photo / File
It also led one disappointed Dunedin local to suggest the council there resurface Baldwin St to edge it up a couple of degrees.
That's not likely to happen.
Nor is it likely Napier might pick up the accolade of having New Zealand's steepest street, despite the fact it has that earlier-noted figure of 1.4 per cent to its incline credit.
Main St, at the very top end where it eventually meets Spencer Rd, has been surveyed, and measurements taken in the middle of the lane, and that short peaking section, came in at 36.4 per cent (20.002 degrees), which is 1.4 per cent more than Baldwin St.
So, on paper, it is the steepest piece of road in New Zealand, although in the official papers it is not.
What likely lets Main St down is that the degree of slope is not consistent. It starts out flat at first and gradually rises before the final tight bendy climb.
A house on Dunedin's Baldwin St. Photo / File
And that brief stretch is not lined by residential properties, unlike Baldwin St and Ffordd Pen Llech.
The nearest houses are about 100m down from the final ascent and on a reduced angle of slope, and there are no footpaths on the steepest stretch.
So the total degree of steepness is far from consistent, while there may also be some issues with one of the qualifying rules for the title, according to the record book folk.
To qualify for the title the road or street must be a thoroughfare that is "commonly" used by the public.
Cars and the very occasional walker do use the whole of Main St but it would likely not get the "commonly used" tag.
It does, however, get used, so that makes it a street ... to varying degrees.
The peak and steep bend of Main St is easily the steepest upon Bluff Hill.
While Karaka Rd at the Seapoint Rd end is a walk-challenging 27.4 per cent and Chaucer Rd on the northern end comes in at 28.4 per cent, they are way short of that short, but dauntingly steep, piece of upper Main St.
And at just 1.1 per cent less than the Welsh roadway, maybe the Napier City Council could add 1.2 per cent of strategic resurfacing to grab a world record?
So when all is said and done, and measured, Napier does possess the steepest slice of road in the land but it seems, just not quite enough of it to make it stick in the official record books.
