KEY POINTS:
School's back this week - and traffic chiefs are warning Auckland drivers to expect more motoring misery.
Morning commutes are predicted to take an extra 20 minutes and the situation will get even worse in March, the busiest month on the roads, when university students add to traffic woes.
"Traffic generally builds up slowly as the time for school to return creeps closer, and it's been getting busier and busier over the last week," said Sergeant Grant Miller, of the motorway policing centre.
Carpooling, public transport and school buses could all help ease the queues, said Miller.
"Those are really the only options to try and lessen the amount of traffic. Motorists will just have to expect delays and be patient."
Transit has shifted motorway maintenance work from day to night in a bid to help traffic flow freely.
It has also increased the number of response units available to clear problems, and ensured constant monitoring of motorway on-ramp signals.
But the love affair between Aucklanders and cars keeps growing, with an extra 40 vehicles a day travelling on local roads and peak-hour periods extending to almost seven hours a day.
Once confined to 90-minute periods from 7.30am and 5pm, the peaks are now considered to run from 6.30am to 9.30am, beginning again as early as 3.30pm.
Commuters are starting and finishing work earlier in a bid to beat the rush, particularly over the short winter days.
That, combined with parents picking up children from school, means commuters can expect traffic jams from mid-afternoon until 7pm, said Transit Auckland network manager Joseph Flanagan.
Auckland City Council monitors the city's roads daily, particularly at peak travel times, and alters traffic-light phasing times to cope with demand.
But the council's road safety manager, Karen Hay, said network demand exceeds capacity at peak times and adjusting the signals provides minimal benefit.
Roadworks were also closely monitored, she said, and were normally banned during peak times unless it was an emergency.
Hay said it was difficult to postpone scheduled roadworks, especially road resealings, as the summer draws to an end, because winter weather limits construction.
Transit spokesman Ewart Barnsley said the opening of the Greenhithe motorway extension before Christmas had eased pressure on Auckland's spaghetti junction.
But the full effect would not be seen until the completion of other pieces of the Transit puzzle, such as the Victoria Park tunnel and Western Ring Route joining Manukau, Waitakere and the North Shore.
Building more roads was not the solution to Auckland's traffic woes, said Flanagan.
A mix of strategies, such as cameras to monitor and detour traffic to other routes, and ramp signals were improving traffic flow, he said.
Transit was committed to providing an effective public transport system and Flanagan pointed to the North Shore busway as proof.
The $300 million project was opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday.
The first stage opened in 2005 and resulted in 500 fewer cars being on the Northern Motorway.
It was used by one million passengers in the past year.
Clark said the Government was spending $340 milion on public transport in Auckland this year and promised $2.5 billion nationally over the next five years, with big investments in the Auckland and Wellington rail networks.
