Easter traffic chokes NZ's highways

Police are reminding holiday makers to drive carefully this weekend. Photo / Dean Purcell

A line of congestion 10km long north of Auckland and delays of up to 90 minutes elsewhere have hit New Zealand highways as Easter traffic continues to build.

Apart from pressure points out of Auckland, traffic leaving Wellington has also hit a snag, with traffic lights along SH1 out for half an hour on the Kapiti Coast.

Geosmart, which provides traffic information for the Automobile Association, said the signal outage was near Paraparaumu from about 3pm to 3.40pm.

The New Zealand Transport Agency's national operations manager, Dave Bates, said queues of traffic were expected to build up at Waikanae, north of Wellington, "anytime from now on".

Forecasts of great weather was encouraging people to leave the capital and meant the congestion there could be worse than normal, Mr Bates said.

In Waikato, the Coromandel's Kopu Bridge has been reported to have a line at least 2km long, with a delay of 90 minutes.

"Kopu Bridge is going to be an absolute nightmare starting from today," said the AA's Bashir Khan.

Drivers can avoid the wait by using the alternative route to Coromandel along SH2 towards Paeroa before joining SH25.

NZTA spokesman Ewart Barnsley said a tail of traffic 10km long was growing north of Auckland on SH1 at Warkworth. Motorists are advised to travel north along SH16 instead.

Traffic on the Southern Motorway is also heavy and slow-moving.

"Easter this year coincides with the start of the school holidays so that certainly puts added pressure on the road network," Mr Barnsley said.

Traffic would be heavy all afternoon and was expected to build again about midday tomorrow, he said.

Of the main centres, Christchurch is expected to be spared the worst of the congestion.

Police are reminding holiday makers to have drive carefully this weekend. They say drivers should remember to drive to the conditions, watch their following distances, and make sure they allow plenty of time for their journeys.

Acting Road Manager Inspector John McClellamb says the road toll for the weekend last year was seven.

He says something that is always in the background is injuries. He says there was 191 injuries from accidents last year, and people need to remember that as well because the injuries can be quite horrific.