Whangārei motorists to face congestion for Friday commute home

Riverside Drive motorists have faced weeks of delays and congestion due to roadworks. Photo / Tania Whyte

Motorists are in for one more big delay on Whangārei's Riverside Dr as speed restrictions due to roadworks and a road closure are set to combine to cause congestion at the pointy end of the afternoon.

Dave Culham Drive will be closed from 4pm to 11pm on Friday for the International Rally of Whangārei.

At the same time, speed restrictions along Riverside Drive due to roadworks will still be in place.

Whangārei District Council spokeswoman Ann Midson said the sealing site needs a final tidy-up - the loose gravel needs to be swept from the road and the road markings re-painted - and the speed limit would remain in place until the works are done.

A post on the council's Facebook post said that work would be carried out on Sunday.

There will still be some off-road works occurring into next week for the construction of the footpath opposite where the council has done the widening.

Cones will still be in place along the side of the road as will a 50km/h speed restriction through the section at Mackesy Rd.

"We're very near the end," Midson said.

"People who have been waiting for it to finish, it's going to get worse tomorrow but it will get better from then on."

The sealing work was planned to be finished at the end of Easter but an issue with the quality of the new footpath, caused a delay.

Midson said the closure of Dave Culham Drive will force a lot of traffic on to other roads and there will be a "general slowing down across the board, probably for a couple of hours".

A KiwiRail train will also be crossing the track on the intersection of Lower Port and Kioreroa Rd at about 4pm tomorrow. Midson said this could add to slow the movement of traffic further.

The more than three weeks of roadworks and resealing on Riverside Drive has bought delays and frustration to motorists.

One of those was Annalatu McKay, who said Wednesday night's congestion was "horrendous".

She left her Otaika home at 4.30pm to go waka paddling at Kissing Point.

McKay said the drive usually takes her around 15 minutes but on Wednesday she joined the queue near the Re:Sort Centre on Kioreroa Rd and after spending "nearly an hour in slow moving traffic" she finally reached Kissing Point at 5.35pm.

The final section of Riverside Drive from Brooks Rd to Kissing Point was sealed on Wednesday.

Midson said the delays experienced by motorists were caused by the 30km/h speed limit.

"When you're trying to put a large volume of people through an area that's usually 80km/h, that's 30km/h, it causes congestion."