KEY POINTS:
Aucklanders back to the grindstone this morning from the holiday weekend should at least be in for a smoother ride along Karangahape Rd after a three-day street closure for resealing.
Almost a kilometre of the usually bustling road between Symonds St and Howe St was closed to traffic from Friday night, and Auckland City Council officials were confident that it would reopen at 5am today.
The upper section of Queen St, between Mayoral Drive and Karangahape Rd, was also closed from Saturday morning for upgrading work and was due to reopen today at 6am.
It will have a raised pedestrian crossing at the traffic lights halfway up the Queen St hill, but will close again next weekend so contractors can upgrade stormwater drainage. Footpaths have also been upgraded, but not widened in similar fashion to the main part of Queen St.
Council traffic operations manager Barry Williams said the two big projects had been done over the same long weekend to minimise disruption.
Although Karangahape Rd looked like a ghost-town over much of the weekend, Mr Williams said the council had enjoyed good co-operation from its business association.
"They accepted it was a job that had to be done, and doing it over a long weekend was better than doing it over two weekends."
Mr Williams said the use of "structural" asphalt to resurface Karangahape Rd meant it would probably be at least 10 years before it needed to be dug up again.
