Move back home adds time and troubles to work route

By WARREN GAMBLE

Rochelle Wordsworth moved back to her parents' Howick home this month to save money, but the decision has cost her time.

From a 10-minute jaunt into the city from Kingsland, the 29-year-old librarian has now joined the legion of eastern commuters, taking an average 50 minutes to travel the 25km to work.

But she tackles the traffic because, despite the delays, it is still a slightly cheaper and more convenient option than buses or the Half Moon Bay ferry.

Access to a cheap carpark at Auckland University, where she works, tips the balance.

Unlike long-suffering eastern commuters who faced the congested Waipuna Rd/Mt Wellington highway route for years, she also has the relative luxury of the southeastern highway that opened two years ago.

Despite traffic lights at Waipuna and Carbine Rds, the arterial gives a reasonable run to the Southern Motorway at Mt Wellington, where the problems really start, she says.

For Rochelle Wordsworth it was a baptism of fire in the dark art of merging, made worse by a confusing on-ramp design.

As the highway splits right into the motorway on-ramp and left to an Otahuhu-Penrose exit, motorists mistakenly trapped in the left lane must nose back into the stationary motorway-bound traffic.

Adding to the chaos is an informal convention where two lanes of traffic develop from one in the middle lane, giving those in the know a quicker trip to the one-lane motorway on-ramp, where another merger is needed.

All this merging can add 15 minutes and several hairy moments to the morning trip.

To avoid the afternoon peak, Rochelle Wordsworth leaves about 6 pm, giving a largely trouble-free 30-minute drive home.

Her first taste of motorway commuting has not yet worn down her naturally optimistic demeanour, and large doses of radio station bFM helped to pass the 61/2 hours she spent commuting last week.

Rochelle Wordsworth's Driving log



Monday


Leave home 8.05 am, 8.20 am lights at Pakuranga, nearly have my first ever nose-to-tail caused by trying to write this time in my diary. Hit Southeastern arterial bottleneck at 8:25. Horrible green ute tries to force me back out into through traffic as I sit waiting in my non-existent lane. I hold my ground staunchly, for 13 minutes. Arrive work 8.56 am - 51 minutes.

Leave work 6.12 pm, home 6.42 pm - 30 minutes.

Tuesday


Leave home 8.10 am, traffic backed up along Pakuranga highway to Stanniland St. 8.27 am rain starts, everyone slows down, only five minutes at on-ramp bottleneck, arrive work 8.58 am - 48m.

After work met friends for coffee in Parnell, hoping for a very quick drive home, leave 6.45 pm, home 7.10 pm - 25 minutes, woohoo!!

Wednesday


Leave home 8.10 am, hit on-ramp bottleneck 8.33 am, two lanes backed up to overbridge. Decide not to try the sneaky middle lane manoeuvre of the previous two days as I don't want to get stuck going to Otahuhu. As a result, this stage is even slower than usual, merged 8.45 am surrounded by big scary trucks, arrive 9.01 am - 51 minutes.

Leave work late at 6.35 pm, traffic backed up on Stanley St on-ramp - what is going on? Slow all the way to Greenlane then clear, home 7.10 pm - 35 minutes.

Thursday


Leave home 8.10 am, hit on-ramp bottleneck at 8.28 am, all three lanes stopped well before the overhead sign, merge into motorway 8.44 am, arrived 9.01 am - 51 minutes.

Left work 6.19 pm, home 6.45 pm - 26 minutes.

Friday


Leave home 8.14 am, hit bottleneck 8.29 am, 13 minutes to motorway, am starting to feel really sorry for the trucks in this merging process, they are just so big, no-one wants to let them in. Arrive work 8.58 am - 44 minutes.

Meet friends after work, leave city 8.29 pm, home 8.59 pm - 30 minutes.

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