Contractors close lanes without permit

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Contractors have closed Auckland road lanes without permission, worsening the city's traffic jams.

Workers laying 58km of cable for telecommunications company TelstraSaturn closed part of a Southern Motorway lane near Ellerslie for an hour on Monday morning and for a shorter period yesterday.

TelstraSaturn said its contractors reopened the lane yesterday because it was too wet to work, but highway managers at Transit NZ said they ordered the lane reopened because the closure was unauthorised.

The closures came as bad weather and the start of the school term brought more vehicles on to the roads. Traffic slowed to a crawl in much of the central city, with delays of up to 15 minutes in some areas.

Motorists have been told to expect more delays in the next six to eight weeks as the fibre-optic cable is laid along parts of the city's inner motorway system.

TelstraSaturn must gain approval from Transit NZ before closing lanes. The firm's contractors had approval to close some lanes last week, but not this week.

Transit and TelstraSaturn met at 1 pm yesterday to discuss the closures. Transit regional manager Wayne McDonald said the idea was to "review the behaviour" of the contractors.

TelstraSaturn spokesman Quentin Bright said police asked for the Ellerslie lane to be reopened on Monday because of safety concerns. Yesterday, the issue was weather.

"Transit sets the rules and we work to the rules," he said.

Auckland City Council staff said TelstraSaturn had followed the rules while laying cables in the central city. It was one of six telecommunication firms with cables in Queen St.

The company has finished most of its cable-laying work on the Northern and Northwestern motorways, leaving just the Southern to be done. It has also been digging up parts of the central city.

The inner-city work is expected to be finished in two months.

The project is part of a $1.2 billion cable network that will connect Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and points in between.

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