SH1 to close and detours in place to cope with huge volume of funeral traffic

State Highway 1 will close on Monday between Ngaruawahia and Huntly for the Maori Queen's funeral, and special cut-price trains will carry mourners from Auckland.

Transit NZ expects to close the main highway and part of a branch route near Dame Te Atairangikaahu's final resting place on Taupiri Mountain for at least six hours from 10am.

Local traffic will be diverted across bridges at Huntly and Ngaruawahia to a road which follows the opposite bank of the Waikato River.

But that road includes a one-way bridge and several other narrow and difficult bends, so the police hope trucks and other long-distance traffic will give the entire district between Pokeno and Tirau a wide berth by travelling instead along SH2 and SH27.

A section of SH1B, which runs between Taupiri and Hamilton via Gordonton, will also close.

Message boards at Tirau and on Auckland's Southern Motorway will urge drivers to take the longer eastern detour, and travellers other than local residents who get as far south as Ohinewai will be encouraged to turn left at the interchange to Tahuna, north of Morrinsville.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority is offering about 440 seats on two return trains from its suburban fleet to mourners for a special return fare of $20, leaving for the Waikato between 7.40am and 8am.

Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee, who requested the services, said last night the idea was to recover only "gas money" for such a special occasion.

Those trains will stop at a normally disused platform at Ngaruawahia for passengers to be carried back north to Taupiri by buses.

National rail operator Toll is also arranging a limited service train with the Tainui tribal federation to carry about 300 elderly and disabled mourners from Ngaruawahia to Taupiri, where the track runs along the foot of Dame Te Ata's burial mountain.

But they will have to stay on board to watch her body being carried from a waka and across SH1 and the railway line to the mountain, as there are no facilities for passengers to get off the train.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said the funeral would generate one of the largest movements of people to be seen in the Waikato.

"It will impact hugely on the transport network."

He said the police had worked with trucking organisations to ensure freight traffic kept clear of SH1 but anyone else intending to use the road needed to plan their journeys well in advance and to expect delays.

A no-stopping zone would be in effect along the length of Riverview Rd on the opposite bank of the Waikato River, but he expected traffic would nevertheless be reduced to a crawl, especially across the one-way bridge.

Automobile Association spokesman Mike Noon said his organisation had no complaints about road closures for such a special occasion. The AA was pleased Transit and other agencies we working together.

* For train bookings, telephone rail operator Veolia Transport between 9am and 3pm today on (09) 270 5133.