SH 49, along with SH 4, SH 47, and SH 46, is used as an alternative route to SH 1 and the Desert Road, and is well used when the Desert Road is closed due to snow.
State Highway 49 passing through Ohakune.Ohakune's famous giant carrot lies just off State Highway 49 at the eastern end of the township.State Highway 49's bridge over the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai.
SH 49 leaves SH 4 at Tohunga Junction, some eight kilometres north of Raetihi, and heads southeast across rolling hills to the tourist town of Ohakune. Following Ohakune's main street, the road continues southeast out of the township, passing Ohakune's famous giant carrot.
SH 49 continues southeast across rolling hills, running broadly in the same direction as the North Island Main Trunk. It passes the rural villages of Rangataua and Karioi, before meeting the railway line at the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai. The bridge here has flashing lights and gates to block off the road in case of a lahar from Mount Ruapehu's crater lake. To the side of the bridge is the Tangiwai memorial, erected to remember the 151 people who died in the Tangiwai disaster when a Wellington to Auckland express train plunged into the river following a lahar on 24 December 1953.
After crossing the Whangaehu River, and the railway line, SH 49 turns east for several kilometres, before turning south into Waiouru. At Waiouru, SH 49 ends at the intersection with SH 1.
Spur
SH 49 used to have one spur; SH 49A. It deviated from SH 49 at Ohakune, and ran west to Raetihi, where it terminated at SH 4. SH 49A was revoked in 1991–92.
Some older New Zealand maps instead have SH 49 running on the section between Ohakune and Raetihi, and SH 49A on the section between Ohakune and Tohunga Junction.[1]
Major intersections
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