One more week of paralysed traffic for Whangaparaoa

Long-suffering Whangaparaoa Peninsula residents north of Auckland face even worse traffic jams this week as a roading project reaches the home stretch.

Tempers frayed last week when a traffic-lights failure and gas leak added to the misery of residents who have been taking up to an hour to crawl to Orewa past a $13 million road-widening project.

A traffic light was knocked over early on Friday in a suspected bout of road rage, forged documents have been brandished in bids to beat a side-road closure, and police marked the end of a dismal week with a plea for motorists not to blame them.

"Staff are there trying to do what they can to assist motorists and are receiving abuse for their efforts, which is uncalled for when the road works are not the responsibility of police," said a despairing Senior Sergeant Phil Paratene.

Rodney District Mayor John Law acknowledged the difficulties faced by residents over the seven months since his council began doubling the width of 1.2km of Whangaparaoa Rd to four lanes, from Red Beach Rd to Vipond Rd.

The road at that point is the sole link to the eastern end of the peninsula.

Council staff have been urging commuters to start their journeys earlier and have approached employers and schools seeking leniency over arrival times of staff or students.

But Mr Law said that with the arrival of road-sealing crews on Saturday an end to the pain was close, even though traffic would have even less room to move until the project was complete sometime next week.

"We are at the most critical but exciting stage now and we are asking the public to be very patient," he told the Herald.

Mr Law acknowledged that motorists had on occasion become violent with one another, and he blamed an uprooted traffic light early on Friday on road rage.

Police have had to persuade his council to clamp down on motorists trying to beat the jams with stealth tactics along side streets.

In one such dodge, motorists tired of queuing for sometimes more than 1km along the Hibiscus Coast Highway to get to Whangaparaoa Rd turned left into a new road called Silverdale Parkway, and then doubled back to trip traffic lights for a clear run across the intersection.

But this increased delays for those waiting patiently in line, and the council closed Silverdale Parkway to all but local residents.

Marellen Drive on Whangaparaoa Peninsula has also been closed to through traffic, and the council has been concerned about the appearance of documents featuring a fake version of its letterhead, seeking passage past the roadworks.

Dissident district councillor Wayne Walker said the council's project management had exacerbated delays, especially as it had rejected a suggestion from his three-member political team to unlock a median strip to give peak-time traffic more room.

He said this could have allowed westward traffic two lanes in the morning, and vehicles headed home in the afternoon two lanes in the opposite direction.

Mr Walker accused rival councillors of delaying the existing work until congestion became intolerable, to increase public pressure for a $200 million toll-road link across the Weiti River from the Northern Motorway at Redvale.

Mr Law strongly denied this, saying he had worked long and hard for a $7.6 million Government subsidy to widen the road.

Week of woe

Tuesday: A computer software glitch at the traffic management centre in Auckland causes the failure of lights at the intersection of Whangaparaoa and Red Beach Rds, and a four-hour traffic jam.
Friday: Traffic banks up again, back to the Hibiscus Coast Highway, when project workers cut a gas main at the intersection of Marellen Drive and Whangaparaoa Rd, forcing both to be closed for varying periods.