Auckland traffic chaos: commuters face headaches on slow roads

Auckland commuters are once again faced with a long journey home, with widespread traffic congestion throughout the city.

Timesaver Traffic by Newstalk ZB says that clogged highways are due to only one reason: just a lot of traffic on city roads.

The Auckland Harbor Bridge remains at 75 percent of full capacity after a strange wind damaged a prop just over two weeks ago, and motorists were urged to use the Western Ring route to get home.

But that use has caused traffic along the ring route to come to a halt, which has gotten quite heavy, especially around the southwest of the Waterview tunnel, Timesaver Traffic says.

Traffic on the Upper Harbor Highway is very slow from Greenhithe, following an early breakdown that saw the left lane heading east after Albany Highway briefly closed before the car was pushed out of the lanes.

The Google Maps traffic map shows heavy congestion in the city.

Meanwhile, near Wellington, traffic stretched for 15 km into the city after a serious two-car accident on the Kāpiti coast.

Traffic was stopped by the accident, which reportedly left two people injured.

The accident occurred on State Highway 1 in Paekākāriki near the intersection with Beach Rd at around 2.45 pm

Wellington commuters find themselves caught in the heavy traffic caused by the accident, even though the road is now open in both directions.

The road was initially closed in both directions, but the New Zealand Transport Agency said it had now been reopened.