Covid 19 coronavirus: Wellington motorists greeted with gridlock due to 'major roadworks'

Traffic pictured southbound on SH1 north of Wellington at 7.45am today. Photo / NZTA Wellington

A major roadworks project has been kicked off on State Highway 1, Wellington, causing gridlock for those getting back to work on alert level 3.

Motorists have been lambasting the queues - which in areas stretch for kilometres - while there have been reports some have lashed out at roading crews.

NZ Transport Agency Wellington posted a reminder to its followers on Twitter early today, reminding them that the left southbound lane will be closed between Churton Park to Johnsonville.

The "major resurfacing and drainage work" would take about two weeks.

It will also include two nights of ramp closures and then two nights of a full closure of the southbound lanes from tomorrow.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

Southbound traffic had remained congested since.

At 9.20am, NZTA posted an update that traffic was backed up to the Tawa straight.

#ROADWORKS - SH1 CHURTON PARK TO JOHNSONVILLE
24/7 left southbound LANE CLOSURE starting TODAY, Tue 28 Apr, with works scheduled to take up to two weeks. Two nights of ramp closures and then two nights of a full southbound CLOSURE start tomorrow, Wed 29 Apr. ^IF pic.twitter.com/KapDR5zWWA

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Wellington (@WakaKotahiWgtn) April 27, 2020

A woman wrote on a Wellington traffic updates page that some workers were "copping tonnes of abuse from passing motorists and even getting things THROWN at them today"

Another wrote that, at 10.15am, it took her an hour to get from Tawa to Johnsonville.

However, NZTA says traffic was now easing with queues back to Grenada North but reminded people to continue to expect delays.

SH1 TAWA TO JOHNSONVILLE, SOUTHBOUND - CONGESTION - 7:45AM
Due to major resurfacing & drainage works, southbound traffic is currently CONGESTED between Tawa & Johnsonville. Please expect significant delays & plan your journey accordingly allowing extra time for your travels. ^EH pic.twitter.com/2S5S721iQx

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Wellington (@WakaKotahiWgtn) April 27, 2020

However, the delays have shocked many locals, with comments including: "OMG ... are all those people really going to work?", and "Wow. Didn't take long to be back to normal."

UPDATE 10:25AM
Southbound congestion is now EASING and queues are currently back to Grenada North. Please continue to expect DELAYS. We will provide a final update when queues have fully eased. ^EHhttps://t.co/X0p3u1ERsG

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Wellington (@WakaKotahiWgtn) April 27, 2020