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Motorists face heavy traffic when people flee Auckland and Wellington for the New Year holidays.
Long lines of cars could be seen on Auckland’s South Highway near Greenlane as people left the city on Sunday.
Congestion was also expected to be heavy for northbound traffic on State Highway 1 between Puhoi and Wellsford.
A motorist posted photos of a traffic queue leading to the Coromandel Peninsula turnoff, south of Auckland.
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NZTA / Supplied
Northbound traffic on the Auckland South Expressway near Greenlane is heavily congested.
In Wellington, congestion was building up on the northbound sections of State Highway 1 between Peka Peka and Ōtaki. Traffic had also decreased between Pukerua Bay and Paekākāriki on Sunday.
One motorist, Sigrun Grice, said northbound Waikanae traffic was stopped, and Google Maps reported that it would take 1 hour and 10 minutes to travel the 17 km from Waikanae and Otaki.
“We had a reasonably good run from Plimmerton to Waikanae, but now the traffic is jammed and barely moving.
Single Vehicle / Supplied
Northbound traffic is getting congested between Peka Peka and Otaki
“I can’t understand why it stops completely like this, it should keep moving, albeit slowly.”
Motorists should expect delays until December 30, warned New Zealand Transportation Agency Waka Kotahi.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said motorists should use its vacation travel hotspot tool to determine when and where delays are expected on the entire state road network.
Irenee Stewart / Supplied
Traffic moves slowly at an estimated speed of 1 to 2 km / h near Cambridge.
Holiday road toll
Four people died during the holiday road toll period on Auckland roads.
Two people were killed after a car crashed into a power pole in south Auckland at 7:30 pm on Christmas Day.
Two more people died in the early hours of Boxing Day when their car collided with a bridge in West Auckland.
The death toll on New Zealand’s roads in 2020 as of December 25 is 312, 34 of them in the Auckland region. The road toll for 2019 was 349.
During Labor Day weekend, eight people died, the highest toll for the holidays in nearly a decade.
By contrast, there were zero deaths over Easter weekend when the country was on lockdown, only the second time it was recorded.
During the summer vacation period last year, there were four deaths and 353 injuries on New Zealand’s roads.
The toll period runs until 6 a.m. M. From Tuesday, January 5, 2021.
