Appendix A - Road Definitions: Relevant Statutes
Local Government Act 1974
Part 21 - Roads (Other than Regional Roads), Service Lanes, and Access Ways
315. Interpretation-
"Road" means the whole of any land which is within a district, and which
(a) Immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act was a road or street or public highway; or
(b) Immediately before the inclusion of any area in the district was a public highway within that area; or
(c) Is laid out by the council as a road or street after the commencement of this Part of this Act; or
(d) Is vested in the council for the purpose of a road as shown on a deposited survey plan; or
(e) Is vested in the council as a road or street pursuant to any other enactment;
and includes
(f) Except where elsewhere provided in this Part of this Act, any access way or service lane which before the commencement of this Part of this Act was under the control of any council [or is laid out or constructed by or vested in any council as an access way or service lane] or is declared … by the Minister of Works and Development as an access way or service lane after the commencement of this Part of this Act [or is declared by the Minister of Lands as an access way or service lane on or after the 1st day of April 1988
(g) Every square or place intended for use of the public generally, and every bridge, culvert, drain, ford, gate, building, or other thing belonging thereto or lying upon the line or within the limits thereof;
but, except as provided in the Public Works Act 1981 or in any regulations under that Act, does not include a motorway within the meaning of that Act.
Transit New Zealand Act 1989
2. Interpretation-
"Motorway"-
(a) Means a motorway declared as such by the Governor-General in Council under section 138 of the Public Works Act 1981 or under section 71 of this Act; and
(b) Includes all bridges, drains, culverts, or other structures or works forming part of any motorway so declared; but
(c) Does not include any local road, access way, or service lane (or the supports of any such road, way, or lane) that crosses over or under a motorway on a different level.
Part 4 - Roading
43. Interpretation-
"Road" means a public highway, whether carriageway, bridle path, or footpath; and includes the soil of
(a) Crown land over which a road is laid out and marked on the record maps:
(b) Land over which right of way has in any manner been granted or dedicated to the public by any person entitled to make such grant or dedication:
(c) Land taken for road under the provisions of this Act[, the Public Works Act 1981,] or any other Act or Provincial Ordinance formerly in force:
(d) Land over which a road has been or is in use by the public which has been formed or improved out of the public funds, or out of the funds of any former province, or out of the ordinary funds of any local authority, for the width formed, used, agreed upon, or fenced, and a sufficient plan of which, approved by the Chief Surveyor of the land district in which such road is situated, has been or is hereafter registered by the District Land Registrar against the properties affected by it; and the Registrar is hereby authorised and required to register any such plans accordingly, anything in any other Act notwithstanding, when the plans are presented for registration by or on behalf of the Minister:
(e) Land over which any road, notwithstanding any legal or technical informality in its taking or construction, has been taken, constructed, or used under the authority of the Government of any former province, or of any local authority, and a sufficient plan of which is registered in the manner provided for in paragraph (d) of this subsection,-
and, unless repugnant to the context, includes all roads which have been or may hereafter be set apart, defined, proclaimed, or declared roads under any law or authority for the time being in force, and all bridges, culverts, drains, ferries, fords, gates, buildings, and other things thereto belonging, upon the line and within the limits of the road.
71. Governor-General may authorise and declare motorways-
(1) At the request of the Authority, the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council published in the Gazette,-
< termini: 2 its and motorway, the of route possible as nearly state so doing in any construction Authorise>
(b) Declare any land, or any part of the air space above or the subsoil below the surface of any land, or any road, whether then actually constructed as a motorway or not, to be a motorway.
(2) Every Order in Council under this section may in the same manner from time to time be amended or revoked.
(3) No request may be made under subsection (1) that affects or is likely to affect Māori land, land registered in the name of Pootatau Te Wherowhero under section 19 of the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995, land subject to any other Māori claims settlement Act, or Māori historical, cultural, or spiritual interests, unless Transit has consulted,-
(a) in the case of land registered in the name of Pootatau Te Wherowhero or interests relating to that land, the land holding trustee (as defined in section 7 of the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995):
(b) if any other Māori claims settlement Act requires consultation about the request, in accordance with that Act:
(c) in any other case, every iwi or hapu that, in the opinion of Transit, will or may be affected by the request.
(3A) Transit must be satisfied after such consultation that the request should be made.
(4) The Minister shall cause a copy of every Order in Council made under subsection (1)(b) of this section, and of every plan referred to in it, to be deposited in the office of the District Land Registrar; and on receipt of it the District Land Registrar shall note the Order in Council upon the appropriate folio of the proper register.
(5) Where any land affected by any Order in Council made under subsection (1)(b) of this section is Māori land, the Minister shall cause a copy of that order to be deposited in the office of the Registrar of the Māori Land Court who shall record it in the records of the Court.
(6) Every motorway declared as such by the Governor-General under section 138 of the Public Works Act 1981 and having that status under that Act immediately before the commencement of this Act is hereby deemed to have been declared to be a motorway under this Act.
Land Transport Management Act 2003
Part 1 - Preliminary Provisions
5. Interpretation-
"road" -
(a) means a road as defined in section 2(1) of the Transit New Zealand Act 1989; and
(b) despite the terms of that definition, in subpart 2 of Part 2, includes a motorway as defined in that section; and
(c) includes toll booths and other toll-related infrastructure on a road
Telecommunications Act 2001
Part 1 - Preliminary
5. Interpretation-
"Road" includes
(a) a street and any other place to which the public have access, whether as of right or not; and
(b) land that is vested in a local authority for the purpose of a road as shown on a deposited survey plan; and
(c) all bridges, culverts, ferries, and fords that form part of any road, street, or any other place referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b).