Puhoi motorway: Waka Kotahi NZTA assessing road for damage after police chase

A new section of motorway is being assessed for damage after a driver fleeing police was spiked and continued driving on the car’s rims on Monday afternoon.

Police tracked a stolen vehicle for more than 30km along Auckland’s Northern Motorway, including on to a new stretch of the Puhoi motorway.

Officers spiked the car, a police spokeswoman said, and it eventually stopped on Puhoi Rd after police responded to a stolen vehicle report in Albany.

A witness told the Herald the car’s tyres blew after it was spiked and “running on bare rims, the [car] continued north until brought to a stop”.

The witness said the road surface was damaged.

After two Covid-impacted delays, the motorway, named Ara Tūhono, or “connecting path”, was due to open in the coming months, chopping 11 minutes off the drive north.

It was due to open in the summer of 2021/22 and then at Queen’s Birthday Weekend last year.

A new section of motorway is being assessed for damage after a driver fleeing police was spiked and continued driving on the car’s rims yesterday afternoon. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A Waka Kotahi spokeswoman told the Herald no details about the condition of the road were available when contacted, “as the team are still assessing [it]”.

The 18.5km route north is in a different league to the stretch of State Highway 1 it is replacing - like getting off a goat track on to a world-class motorway.

“The experience driving through will be awesome, it is such a beautiful country and the road is striking,” Waka Kotahi national manager of commercial delivery Andrew Robertson said.