Motorists heading south into Auckland are running into trouble on State Highway 1 as a result of tar from a newly laid section of road peeling off.
Police said they’ve had more than 40 motorists call in to complain since 3pm, with numerous cars reported to have pulled up along the road with tar stuck on their vehicle tyres and body.
The affected section is understood to be at the northern end of Dome Valley, about 4km south of the Mangawhai turn-off.
A police spokeswoman said contractors arrived at the scene shortly after 4.30pm and were directing traffic away from the main problem areas.
One motorist said an entire resealed section about a few kilometres long was lifting and kicking up tar and stones and sticking to cars.
There were 20-odd cars on the side of the road, with other cars crawling along to try to get through.
“There was a little old lady with an umbrella trying to get the tar off her tyres, but they were completely covered,” the motorist said.
“People weren’t able to drive.”
She said it happened travelling south from Wellsford, between Wayby Valley Rd and before motorists reach Sheepworld.
Even when motorists made it through the resealed section, cars that had picked up the tar were kicking it off and onto other vehicles as they drove along, the motorist said.
Another motorist said they passed through at 3pm and first started noticing cars pulled over about 4km north of Sheepworld.
The motorist said the chipseal was caking up around the tyres of some cars so heavily that they had no choice but to pull over.
“It’s either they put the traffic on it too soon or - considering the rest of the new chipseal has held up - there must have been an issue with the last section they did.”
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