The Four Avenues are a group of four major arterial boulevards — Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue, and either Rolleston Ave or Deans Avenue — that surround the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. Serving as an inner ring road, they popularly form the limits of the city centre, separating it from the city's suburbs. Almost all of the city's commercial heart lies within the approximately rectangular 9.8-square-kilometre (3.8 sq mi) area formed by the four avenues. The term "within the Four Avenues" is widely used in Christchurch to refer to the central city.[1] By extension, Christchurch as a whole is sometimes referred to[by whom?] as "The Four Avenues".
Historically, Rolleston Avenue, rather than Deans Avenue, was regarded as the fourth of the four avenues, but reconstruction of Christchurch City Centre following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake has officially made Deans Avenue a boundary of the CBD.[2] This has enlarged the central area to include Hagley Park, a green area which dominates the western end of the city's centre. Technically, this means there are five, not four, avenues, as Deans Avenue does not connect directly with Bealey Avenue, the two being connected by the shorter Harper Avenue, which skirts the northern edge of Hagley Park.
The avenues were named for early Christchurch city founding fathers (Samuel Bealey, John and William Deans, James FitzGerald, William Sefton Moorhouse, and William Rolleston), with the exception of Harper Avenue (formerly Park Road) which was renamed in 1931 to honour retiring Christchurch Domains Board chairman Sir George Harper.[3]
Deans Avenue forms the western edge of the Four Avenues, separating Hagley Park from the major inner suburb of Riccarton. It runs due north–south for approximately 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi), with its northern end connecting with the curving Harper Ave. This road runs approximately east-northeast for 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) before connecting with the western end of Bealey Avenue.
La recta Bealey Avenue continúa hacia el este durante 2,4 kilómetros (1,5 millas). Esta amplia y arbolada vía de doble calzada bordea los límites de los suburbios de Merivale y Edgeware . Aproximadamente en su punto medio, la cruza la calle principal de Christchurch, Colombo Street . Bealey Avenue llega a su final en un cruce con el extremo norte de Fitzgerald Avenue.
Después de una leve curva inicial para seguir las orillas del río Avon/Ōtākaro , Fitzgerald Avenue se dirige hacia el sur y cruza los extremos suburbanos de las principales calles del interior de Christchurch, como Gloucester Street y Hereford Street. Al este de la avenida se encuentra el suburbio de Linwood . Después de 2,7 kilómetros (1,7 millas), la avenida termina en un cruce con Moorhouse Avenue.
La avenida Moorhouse se extiende de este a oeste a lo largo de 3,8 kilómetros (2,4 millas), conectando los extremos de las avenidas Fitzgerald y Deans. También la cruza Colombo Street. Esta vía de doble calzada, la más urbana de las cuatro, carece de la naturaleza arbolada de las otras avenidas, ya que pasa entre el centro de la ciudad y áreas comerciales e industriales ligeras como Sydenham y Addington .
Las principales rutas que cruzan las cuatro avenidas, además de las calles interiores de Christchurch ya mencionadas, incluyen (en el sentido de las agujas del reloj desde el extremo sur de Deans Avenue):
En el sentido de las agujas del reloj desde el suroeste:
43°31′15″S 172°39′00″E / 43.52083, -43.52083; 172.65000