Branch Road

How Branch Road in New Plymouth got its name doesn’t seem to be noted in any surviving records. Perhaps this is because for many years it existed only as a ‘paper road’.

As early as 1904, it appears on some surveyors’ plans as a short, no-exit road, intersecting with Junction Road. However, it was unformed and the area remained as farmland for many decades.

Junction Road was part of the main road south of New Plymouth. In the early 1960s work commenced at the southern end of Coronation Avenue, to create a new main road. Older readers will remember this in part because several hundred metres of this new main road became known as New Plymouth’s ‘motorway’, a ruse intended to gain central government funding for its construction and maintenance.

When the new main road was constructed, Junction Road was bypassed. It became a much quieter residential area, which developers soon started to take an interest in. In about 1977, the land shown on the old survey plans as Branch Road, was finally vested to the council. The road’s construction began soon afterwards.

The original intersection with Heta Road was redesigned, to avoid a steep bank, and called Puketotara Street. The area continued to develop and the name Branch Road was also used for a new road connecting Heta Road and Mangorei Road.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related plans:

Taranaki ML241 Sheet 1 (c1891), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP2167 Sheet 1 (1904), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP10137 Sheet 1 (1969), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP12269 Sheet 1 (1977), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)