The signs for Pine Hill and North East Valley in North Dunedin have for years appeared with two different versions, Pine Hill and Pinehill, North East Valley and Northeast Valley, on signs pointing to those suburbs.
The "Pinehill'' spelling appears on a sign on the Northern Motorway, while "Northeast Valley'' appears on a sign by the Botanic Garden.
The confusion does not end there.
The Pinehill spelling has also been seen on bus destination signs.
When raised with the NZTA, a spokeswoman said the agency regretted the errors.
"The signs with the incorrect single word version of Pine Hill have been in place for around eight or nine years and we have had no complaints about them in that time.
"We regret the error, due to someone failing to check spelling properly, and intend to replace them in coming weeks.''
The same went for the North East Valley sign.
"We have a more stringent process in place currently around approvals of signs and place names than when these signs were installed more than 10 years ago.''
Pine Hill appears with that spelling on most road signs, maps and the local school.
Dunedin historian Gary Blackman said in his experience most residents spelled North East Valley using three words, all capitalised.
Local institutions preferred that spelling, "but not everybody, especially newspapers and others who put words into print''.
Local residents preferred the North East Valley spelling from early on.
"For example in 1852, two occupiers of church land, now the New World Gardens car park, wrote to the trustees about flooding and gave their address as `North East Valley'.''
Robert Short, an early valley resident and farmer, and headmaster of the old school in Bank St, writing a letter to the Otago Provincial Council in January 1860, spelled out North East Valley, twice.
"In 1849 the Rev Thomas Burns was writing North East Valley in his Visitation Book and that is the spelling I have found in title deeds and other land documents going back at least to March 1851.''
Mr Blackman said the New Zealand Geographic Board officially approved the spelling North East Valley for use in maps, road signs and directories.
- The Otago Daily Times is changing its style from Northeast Valley to North East Valley.
