Baldwin Street



Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, New Zealand, is located in the residential suburb of North East Valley, 3.5 km northeast of Dunedin's central business district. Guinness World Records calls it the steepest street in the world, meaning no street gains more altitude in 10 horizontal metres (33 ft), measured along the street's centreline.

Description
A straight street slightly under 350 m long, Baldwin Street runs east from the valley of the Lindsay Creek up the side of Signal Hill towards Opoho, rising from 30 m above sea level at its junction with North Road to 100 m above sea level at the top, an average slope of slightly more than 1:5. The lower reaches are only moderately steep, and the surface is asphalt, but the upper reaches are steeper and surfaced in concrete (200 m long) for ease of maintenance (bitumen—in either chip seal or asphalt—would flow down the slope on a warm day) and for safety in Dunedin's frosty winters.

The 161.2 m top section climbs 47.2 m vertically, an average gradient of 1:3.41. At its maximum, about 70 m from the top, the slope of Baldwin Street is about 1:2.86 (19° or 35%); in 2.86 m travelled horizontally, the elevation changes by 1 m.

For cars it is a dead-end street, but Baldwin Street is linked across the top by Buchanan Street, a footpath following an otherwise unformed (i.e. unpaved) road linking it with Calder Avenue and Arnold Street, which are unformed in their upper reaches where Baldwin is steepest. The streets running parallel to Baldwin are all steep: Arnold Street (1:3.6 or 27.77%), Dalmeny Street (1:3.7 or 27%), and Calder Avenue (1:5.4 or 13%).

History
The street's steepness was unintentional. As with many other parts of early Dunedin, and indeed New Zealand at large, streets were laid out in a grid pattern with no consideration for the terrain, usually by planners in London. In the case of Baldwin Street (and much of the Dunedin street plan), the layout was surveyed by Charles Kettle in the mid-19th century. The street is named after William Baldwin, an Otago Provincial Councillor and newspaper founder, who subdivided the area.

In 1987, Baldwin Street was recognised as the world's steepest street by the Guinness Book of Records following a two-year campaign by the broadcaster Jim Mora. At the time, Baldwin Street topped two competing streets in San Francisco, which hitherto had held the title of being the steepest streets in the world.

On 16 July 2019, Baldwin Street lost its title of World's Steepest Street to Ffordd Pen Llech, with Baldwin Street being at a gradient of 35%, while Ffordd Pen Llech being classified at a gradient of 37.45%. Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull said that the Dunedin City Council could consider altering the signage wording from the world's steepest street to the southern hemisphere's steepest street.

On 8 April 2020, after an extensive review of an appeal to return the title to Baldwin Street filed by several Dunedin residents led by surveyor Toby Stoff, Guinness decided that the steepness of the street must be based on the central axis, which meant that Ffordd Pen Llech had a gradient of 28.6% compared to Baldwin Street's 34.8%. This meant that the title of Steepest Street was returned to Baldwin Street.

Resident reception
After recognition as the world's steepest street, especially with the rise of social media, tourism activity and events at Baldwin Street have greatly increased. The street is a popular destination on tourist buses and travel guides.

Residents have mixed reception to tourist activity on the street. Many residents reported issues with some tourists being disruptive by walking in residents' gardens, lying down on the street, and being unable to turn their vehicles. Other residents have more positive thoughts, enjoying the busy activity and excitement of living on the street.

On Ffordd Pen Llech temporarily being named the world's steepest street, and a predicted decline in tourists to Baldwin Street, Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan remarked that "it might be a blessing in disguise for some residents fed up with crowds of visitors, trampled gardens and bad driving decisions on the street."

Associated events and vehicle stunts
Baldwin Street has attracted a lot of record hunters and daredevils attempting to either ascend or descend the street on different kinds of vehicles. Some of these attempts have been sanctioned, while others have not, including at least one fatality from misadventure. In March 2001, a 19-year-old University of Otago student was killed when she and another student attempted to travel down the street inside a wheelie bin. The bin collided with a parked trailer, killing her instantly, and causing serious head injuries for the other student.

Additionally, the street is the venue for an annual event in Dunedin, the Baldwin Street Gutbuster. Every summer since 1988, this exercise in fitness and balance involves athletes running from the base of the street to the top and back down again. The event attracts several hundred competitors annually, and the race record is 1 minute and 56 seconds, set in 1998.

Since 2002, a further charity event has been held annually in July, which involves the rolling of over 30,000 Jaffas (spherical confectionery-coated chocolate confectionery). Each Jaffa is sponsored by one person, with prizes to the winner and funds raised going to charity. This event follows a tradition started in 1998 when 2,000 tennis balls were released in a sponsored event raising money for Habitat for Humanity.

On 2 January 2010, Cardrona stuntman Ian Soanes rode down Baldwin Street on a motorcycle on one wheel. He then did a victory lap doing a wheelie up the hill one-handed while giving a thumbs-up gesture to the spectating crowd.

In April 2015, under controlled conditions, a trio of drift trike riders—Harley Jolly, 23; Tyson Barr, 18; and Nic Roy, 18—made headlines when they descended the street with speeds estimated to be up to 100 km/h (62 mph) to promote the sport. The estimated speed was approximately twice Baldwin Street's 50 km/h (31 mph) legal speed limit.

In 2017, Wyn Masters (also known as Wyn TV) performed a wheelie (in the form of a manual—that is, gravity power instead of pedalling) down the hill on a bicycle.

On 26 January 2018, 11-year-old Harry Willis raised over NZD$11,000 for the Ronald McDonald House in Christchurch by ascending the street on a pogo stick. The climb took around ten minutes. Willis's effort has since been commemorated with a plaque at the top of the street.

On 10 January 2019, a man rode a Lime scooter down Baldwin Street the same day that the scooters had been introduced to Dunedin and a week after Dunedin's mayor at the time, Dave Cull, had said he was relying "on people's common sense" not to take the scooters down the world's steepest street.

In August 2022, under controlled conditions, Australian downhill skater Zak Mills-Goodwin became the first person captured on video to hill bomb the street on a skateboard (i.e. not doing slides, which reduce speed).

After many years of ideation and attempts, an attempt at cycling up the street was made by American YouTuber and cyclist Mitch Boyer circa April 2023 after hearing about a New Zealand TV news report (which aired on the programme Seven Sharp) on his filmed ascent on the then-current street steepness world record holder of Ffordd Pen Llech. One of the show's co-hosts, Hilary Barry, said: "If you can cycle up it, it's not the world's steepest street". Upon learning that Boyer was making the 30-hour trip to attempt the challenge and playfully make Barry regret her words, she offered to help film the attempts for their show. After two failed attempts, Boyer managed to scale the street, sometimes deploying a zigzagging technique (a self-imposed restriction he later discarded after the second attempt due to difficulty). He used a chainring of 52–36 and a cassette of 11–34 to get a minimum gear ratio of 1.058, including optimising the tyres for weight.