You’ve had a lovely long weekend, now comes the highway hangover.
Returning holidaymakers are clogging some highways into our largest city this afternoon as they head home from the King’s Birthday long weekend.
The return of thousands of vehicles comes as the holiday road toll reached two, following the death of a motorist in an eastern Bay of Plenty crash last night. A man also died in a Far North crash on Saturday.
As of 2.30pm today, travel from Bombay to Auckland on State Highway 1 was taking 48 minutes, up from 28 minutes when traffic is free-flowing.
Traffic on State Highway 1 from the Orams Rd overbridge near Manukau about 3.30pm today. Congestion appears to have eased since. Image / NZTA traffic camera
The same journey using State Highways 1, 20 and 16 was taking 54 minutes, compared to a usual 34 minutes, according to NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi‘s (NZTA) traffic dashboard.
Journeys to and from Helensville from the city, using SH1 and SH18, are running about 10 minutes slower than usual, at around 45 minutes.
It’s taking 44 minutes to make the normally 35-minute journey from North Auckland’s Wellsford to Silverdale on SH1.
Routes to and from Auckland Airport from various parts of the city are also taking about 10 minutes longer than usual, but other highways are running on time, or within a few minutes of that.
Several highways are expected to remain busy over the next few hours, according to NZTA’s journey planner.
The heaviest citybound traffic from Bombay to Manukau on SH1 should be about to ease, but would remain heavy until about 5.15pm.
The Coromandel Peninsula: a popular destination in summer or winter. Photo / Alamy
South, on the popular SH2 route to Coromandel Peninsula, the worst of the westbound traffic between Pokeno and Maramarua should now be over, but will remain heavy heading west on the highway between Paeroa and Waihī till 4pm.
In the north, southbound traffic on SH1 would remain heavy till 4pm in Whangārei and 5.30pm between Pūhoi and Wellsford.
Those heading south from the central North Island could expect heavy traffic till 3.30pm on SH1 between Taihape and Waiōuru and then for the highway to remain busy another hour after that.
A slow journey could also be expected heading south from Levin on SH1 until 4.30pm, and for anyone travelling south over the Remutaka Hill on SH2.
What about the South Island?
In the South Island, southbound travellers on SH1 from Waipara will be experiencing the worst congestion till 3.30pm, with heavy traffic continuing till 5pm, with similar traffic expected on SH6 in and out of Queenstown.
Those driving from SH73 from Arthur’s Pass towards Christchurch could also expect the heaviest traffic till 5pm, while anyone travelling north from Ashburton on SH1 will have to put up with the heavy traffic a little longer, with busy conditions expected to continue until 6.30pm.
Travellers heading north to Christchurch on SH1 already faced a detour when a section of SH1 was closed after a crash which seriously injured one person north of Temuka.
The Temuka-Orari Highway closed after the two-vehicle crash between Te Awa and Rise Rds at 11.20am, but has since reopened.
“One person has been seriously injured. Diversions are in place down Springfield Rd and Rise Rd,” police said in a statement.
And in Ashhurst, 15km northeast of Palmerston North, Saddle Rd was closed at 11.30am after a truck crash. It has now reopened with stop/go traffic management, police said.
“Motorists are asked to take extra care along this route.”
Two dead in holiday road toll
This long weekend’s road toll is up from one last year.
In the first incident, a man died in a single vehicle crash at 5.30pm on Saturday.
Two people have died in road crashes this King's Birthday long weekend, police say.
In last night’s incident, a single vehicle crashed on State Highway 35 in Omaio, Ōpōtiki at 8.40pm.
“Despite the best efforts of emergency services, the person died at the scene”, police said in media releases for both incidents.
The Serious Crash Unit attended both incidents, the circumstances of which are being investigated.
The official holiday period ends at 6am tomorrow. It began at 4pm on Friday.
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
