By Stephen Day, Kaiwhakahaere Whakapā | Communications Manager, Outdoor Access Commission
The essential national infrastructure hiding in plain sight.
Across Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a network of unformed legal roads that rarely feature on maps, in headlines or in funding priorities. They are usually not sealed, and are often not even gravelled. Many are grassy paddocks, narrow tracks or strips of bush. Some are walked daily, while others have not seen a footprint for decades. Together, they form one of the largest public land networks in the country. These are essential national infrastructure hiding in plain sight.
Unformed legal roads connect people to rivers, coastlines, maunga and rural landscapes. Increasingly, they are also being recognised for something more: their role in future resilient transport and recreation networks.
What are unformed legal roads?
An unformed legal road is land that has been legally gazetted as a road – some were never physically built, and some were built but fell into disuse as they were replaced by more efficient roads. There are around 56,000 kilometres of unformed legal road, making up 30 per cent of New Zealand’s total road network. In many rural districts, unformed roads account for more public land than formed roads. Because they are legal roads, unformed roads are generally open to the public. People can walk, cycle, ride horses and, in some cases, drive vehicles on them, depending on local by-laws and conditions. The Outdoor Access Commission online mapping system has made many New Zealanders aware of this access they never knew they had.
Who maintains unformed legal roads?
The short answer is usually no-one – at least not in the way we think about roads. It is important to note that unformed legal roads do not pass over owned land – they are separate land parcels. They do not belong to the farmers or foresters whose land they intersect or adjoin.
Territorial authorities own and manage unformed legal roads, just like formed roads; however, councils are not obliged to physically form or maintain them. Most councils adopt a minimal intervention approach, allowing the land to remain in its current state.
That does not mean councils have no responsibilities; they must manage public safety risks, protect access rights and respond to issues like illegal obstruction or encroachment. Farmers sometimes graze stock across them, with council permission. In other places, unformed roads are planted as forest, used as drains, or function as de facto walkways, again with council permission.
The Outdoor Access Commission regularly works with councils to clarify the legal status of these roads, ensure that they remain open where appropriate, and help resolve conflicts between landowners and the public. Small, low-cost interventions, like signs, gates, or agreements, can unlock significant public value.
Walking, cycling and green corridors
The most important opportunity for unformed legal roads is supporting active transport and recreation. Around the country, unformed roads are quietly becoming walking tracks, bridleways and cycle connections. Some link schools to neighbourhoods, while others provide safe off-road routes between towns, or access to rivers and reserves. When combined with each other and with other outdoor access, they can form networks that are continuous, enduring, public and free.
Many unformed roads have been transformed by community projects led by a team of local volunteers. These projects are often low-cost compared to building new community infrastructure because the land is already public, and the community is already providing leadership. These volunteers have the vision and energy, but they need support from the government, especially local councils.
Unformed roads also offer opportunities for urban regeneration. In growing towns and cities, they can become laneways, pocket parks, cycle paths or stormwater corridors. They can support biodiversity planting, manage run-off and create cooler, greener streetscapes.
Importantly, they do this without needing to buy land – a major barrier to new open space in urban areas.
Emergency resilience
Although they are unformed, these roads are part of the national roads network. In emergencies or a changing climate, that matters. Recent years have shown how exposed New Zealand is to floods, storms, slips and wildfires. Roads wash out; bridges fail; communities can be cut off for days or weeks. The Outdoor Access Commission is leading a project for Land Information New Zealand to develop nationwide track data for emergency responders.
Unformed legal roads have an emerging role to play in emergency resilience. In flood-prone regions, unformed roads sit on different ground than flooded routes. In forestry areas, they can function as firebreaks or access lines. Along rivers, they often run parallel to stopbanks, offering space for inspection, maintenance and emergency response.
Unformed legal roads can offer alternative routes where formed roads are vulnerable. In rural and remote areas, they can be the only legal way to reach stranded families. They can be used to reach rivers for water supply, flood management infrastructure, or civil defence response.
From a network perspective, unformed roads act as redundancy – extra links in the system that we can activate if needed. They are a form of insurance, already owned by the public, already legally protected and waiting to be used more deliberately.
Because they are already in public ownership, unformed roads can be used quickly and flexibly during a crisis; however, realising this potential requires planning. Councils and emergency managers need to know where these roads are, their condition, and the level of access they can realistically provide.
Mapping, clarity and proactive planning turn a dormant asset into a practical option.
Utility corridors
Unformed legal roads are natural utility corridors. As legal roads, they provide lawful space to carry pipes, cables and other infrastructure without needing to negotiate easements across private land.
In some parts of the country, councils use unformed roads for water supply lines, telecommunications and electricity networks, drainage, or wastewater infrastructure. But, overall, New Zealand is not making full use of this potential. Better coordination between council roading teams, three waters providers, telecommunications operators and power companies could change this. Using unformed roads as multipurpose infrastructure corridors could reduce costs, minimise land acquisition disputes, and futureproof networks – particularly in fast-growing or climate-exposed areas. This coordinated thinking is especially important when linked to providing better public access.
Seeing what is already there
Despite their potential, unformed legal roads face challenges. Many people do not realise they exist or assume they are private land, while others worry about privacy or liability for adjoining landowners.
Clear communication and good design matter. Signs, fencing, gates and education can help balance public use with neighbouring land uses. The Outdoor Access Commission has consistently emphasised that access works best when built on relationships, not just lines on maps.
Another challenge is institutional. Unformed roads often fall between council teams: not quite parks, not quite transport, not quite utilities. Recognising them as multifunctional infrastructure would help bring them into strategic planning, rather than leaving them as an afterthought.
Unformed legal roads remind us that we do not always need to build infrastructure from scratch. Sometimes we just need to notice, understand and use it better. They are a legacy of past planning that can serve future needs: resilience in emergencies, corridors for essential services, and space for people to walk, cycle and connect with the whenua.
Quiet, grassy and often overlooked, they are already there, waiting to play their part.
When we take these roads seriously – as infrastructure – we unlock their value. In a time of tight budgets, climate pressures and growing demand for connected pathways, unformed legal roads may prove to be one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most strategic assets.
The Outdoor Access Commission is Aotearoa New Zealand’s Crown agency responsible for providing leadership on outdoor access issues. Its role is to advise on, and advocate for, free, certain, enduring, and practical access to the outdoors.
Image courtesy of Outdoor Access Commission.