Life along the world’s steepest street can be challenging at times, according to locals.
The city of Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island is home to the incredibly steep Baldwin Street, which boasts a gradient of 34.8 percent.
While many may think the main issue with living in this area is linked to how difficult it is to reach the top of Baldwin Street, resident Hugo Hyndman said it has to do with the elevated number of tourists.
In an interview with Stuff.co.nz, Mr Hyndman – who lived at the top of the street for two decades – said: “You just have to be aware all the time.”
Tourists often head to Baldwin Street to take a picture of the record-holding road.
But sometimes their attempts at snapping a great photograph can become dangerous.
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The resident said: “We have had a few issues with people lying under the crest of the hill … so when you are driving down you have to slam on the brakes so you don’t hit them.”
Mr Hyndman also saw campervans hitting the bank of his property as well as vehicles getting stuck while trying to turn into his driveway.
Moreover, driving up and down such a steep road can be difficult for those not used to it.
The resident added: “There are people who can’t really drive manuals so I have helped them out by driving down the hill.”
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Even New Zealanders make the lives of locals a bit more difficult when they try to challenge the steep road by entertaining dangerous challenges.
In 2009, three young men were caught riding a portable cooler down the street.
To improve the life of locals amid the growing popularity of the street, Dunedin City Council installed a few years ago signs showing a “care code” for the area.
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Baldwin Street, named after surveyor and newspaper founder William Baldwin, was awarded the Guinness World Records for the steepest road in the world in 1987.
However, in 2019 it was involved in a row as the seaside town of Harlech, North Wales, claimed to be the real home to the world’s steepest road – Ffordd Pen Llech.
However, New Zealander surveyor Toby Stoff went in person to take a look at the Welsh town and claimed that, when measuring both Ffordd Pen Llech and Baldwin Street from their centreline, the road in Dunedin was still the rightful owner of the record title.
After he appealed to the Guinness World Records, the organisation reinstated the title to Baldwin Street and established that in order to make fair assessments in the future, the “best practice for the gradient is to take the measurement from the centreline of the street” – as suggested by Mr Stoff.
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