Making New Zealand - Roads

In the debut episode of this documentary series, the story of Aotearoa's roads takes many dramatic turns. There's avalanches, dynamite accidents and political disputes — and that's only the Otira Gorge. Road construction has been intertwined with some of the most significant chapters of New Zealand's history, including the gold rush, the New Zealand Wars, World War ll and the Great Depression. Utilising a wealth of archival footage and expert interviews, the show explores both the engineering feats and cultural context behind projects like the Auckland Harbour Bridge — plus there are personal anecdotes to boot.

There's nine active faults within 50 kilometres and the main alpine faults are within 20 kilometres, so everything that was built here was built to take stresses 40 percent higher than any other bridge previously built.

– NZ Transport Agency Operations Manager Peter Connors on the challenges of the Otira Viaduct in Arthur's Pass

Key Cast & Crew

Jed Town

Composer

Laurie Clarke

Executive Producer

Steven Barnett

Concept, Research

Mark Everton

Director, Producer

Mark Clare

Narrator

Kathy Wright

Network Executive