WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 1 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:05.630 - This is Baldwin Street in Dunedin, on the South Island of New Zealand. 2 00:00:05.630 --> 00:00:07.510 It is quite steep here at top, 3 00:00:07.510 --> 00:00:10.300 if you say it's a 35% slope, it sounds really impressive. 4 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:13.390 If you say it's 19 degrees, it doesn't sound that great, 5 00:00:13.390 --> 00:00:15.180 but you try walking up it. 6 00:00:15.180 --> 00:00:16.690 It actually holds the Guinness World Record 7 00:00:16.690 --> 00:00:18.400 for steepest street in the world, 8 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:20.040 a fact that brings an increasing number of tourists 9 00:00:20.040 --> 00:00:23.750 to what was, before social media, a quiet bit of suburbia. 10 00:00:23.750 --> 00:00:25.400 I got here early in the morning on the offseason, 11 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:28.080 and there are already lots of people taking pictures. 12 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:29.170 If you've seen my channel before, though, 13 00:00:29.170 --> 00:00:31.890 you can probably work out what the next question I'm going to ask is. 14 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:35.199 What actually counts as the steepest street in the world? 15 00:00:35.199 --> 00:00:41.700 - 1877 was the year when Baldwin Street, as a 10-acre section, 16 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:44.980 was purchased by Captain William Baldwin. 17 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:47.750 And then he decided to subdivide it 18 00:00:47.750 --> 00:00:51.800 into 132 separate building sections. 19 00:00:51.800 --> 00:00:53.960 The reason why the streets are steep 20 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:58.960 is because the initial subdivision was into 10-acre lots. 21 00:00:59.050 --> 00:01:02.110 They were constrained because once the 10-acre lots 22 00:01:02.110 --> 00:01:05.910 had been put in straight-sided rectangles, 23 00:01:05.910 --> 00:01:09.980 there wasn't much choice and all those straight roads 24 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:12.550 were put in straight whatever the topography, 25 00:01:12.550 --> 00:01:17.020 so if they had to go up a steep bit of mountainside, they did. 26 00:01:17.020 --> 00:01:20.050 - We've had to put in traffic control infrastructure 27 00:01:20.050 --> 00:01:21.900 and we're constantly adapting that 28 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.250 as the modes of transport of the visitors changes. 29 00:01:26.250 --> 00:01:29.820 It's a difficult street to negotiate if you're not used to the steepness. 30 00:01:29.820 --> 00:01:31.940 Occasionally, someone breaks down or 31 00:01:31.940 --> 00:01:34.960 gets themself in a tight spot with a big camper van, 32 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:37.280 where they find they're not quite as adept 33 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:41.010 at backing and parking and turning as they thought they were. 34 00:01:41.010 --> 00:01:44.470 It is a challenge for the residents of the street. 35 00:01:44.470 --> 00:01:46.580 From time to time, they look out their windows, for instance, 36 00:01:46.580 --> 00:01:50.300 and find visitors standing on their front lawn or in their garden, 37 00:01:50.300 --> 00:01:52.460 taking photos, because we don't always 38 00:01:52.460 --> 00:01:54.420 have front fences in New Zealand. 39 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:57.670 Baldwin Street has always garnered a lot of attention. 40 00:01:57.670 --> 00:02:00.170 Instagram would've exacerbated that, if you like, 41 00:02:00.170 --> 00:02:04.160 it's exposed Baldwin Street to more people around the world 42 00:02:04.160 --> 00:02:05.580 and we think that's a good thing. 43 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:07.690 It's a point of difference for the city, 44 00:02:07.690 --> 00:02:10.800 we've got wildlife, we've got heritage architecture, 45 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.100 and we've got Baldwin Street, steepest street in the world. 46 00:02:13.100 --> 00:02:14.780 - Now, Guinness defines the world record 47 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:18.280 as "steepest street over a continuous distance of 10 metres". 48 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:23.140 And Guinness is the international standard arbiter of things like that because, well, 49 00:02:23.140 --> 00:02:25.650 because no one else was doing it and they got there first. 50 00:02:25.650 --> 00:02:27.480 But the record here is challenged. 51 00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:30.350 If you take Baldwin Street over its whole length, 52 00:02:30.350 --> 00:02:32.130 well, down there, it's flat at the bottom, 53 00:02:32.130 --> 00:02:34.710 so along the whole thing, the average is much lower. 54 00:02:34.710 --> 00:02:36.930 But that doesn't seem a sensible way of measuring it. 55 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.760 There's a street in Wales that claims to be steeper, 56 00:02:39.760 --> 00:02:42.750 although that might depend on how you measure around a corner. 57 00:02:42.750 --> 00:02:46.330 Do you take the centre line or do you take the steepest part on the inside? 58 00:02:46.330 --> 00:02:48.720 And professional data analyst Stephen von Worley 59 00:02:48.720 --> 00:02:52.500 found one street in San Francisco that briefly hits a 41% grade, 60 00:02:52.500 --> 00:02:54.150 a good bit steeper than this, 61 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:57.610 for just under 10 metres. Not quite long enough to qualify. 62 00:02:57.610 --> 00:03:02.260 - When I was young, and I was born in 1929, 63 00:03:02.260 --> 00:03:04.470 nobody took much notice of Baldwin Street. 64 00:03:04.470 --> 00:03:06.110 Everybody knew it was a steep one, 65 00:03:06.110 --> 00:03:09.970 it wasn't seen seen to be unique in some ways. 66 00:03:09.970 --> 00:03:13.310 But it's established itself, there isn't any doubt about that. 67 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:15.480 - Other towns and cities may quibble about the definition, 68 00:03:15.480 --> 00:03:18.020 but "steepest 10-meter stretch of road" 69 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:20.360 isn't quite as catchy as "steepest street in the world". 70 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:23.030 And in the end, it's a nice Instagram photo opportunity, 71 00:03:23.030 --> 00:03:26.110 another tourist attraction to bring people to the town. 72 00:03:26.110 --> 00:03:28.600 And if you are going to crown a steepest street, 73 00:03:28.600 --> 00:03:30.380 then you have to draw the line somewhere. 74 00:03:30.380 --> 00:03:31.740 Even if you have to draw that line 75 00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:33.363 at a bit of an angle.