Live: Auckland Harbor Bridge Repair – Traffic meanders through Auckland City as travelers try to avoid the rush home

Auckland commuters are stuck in jammed traffic as the closure of the Curran St entrance ramp causes queues to meander through Ponsonby.

Traffic is already increasing along the highway and through the Westhaven Marina, with an NZTA camera showing long lines along the north highway from Onewa Rd.

Today’s never-ending spike comes after the NZTA was forced to close half of the Auckland Harbor Bridge to make urgent repairs to a damaged strut after two truck accidents closed four lanes on Friday.

A hellish commute follows for many, with traffic crawling through parts of the highway network.

17:00 update:

Traffic is heavy heading north from Greenlane to the Harbor Bridge, and commuters face increasing wait to get home.

Waka Kotahi / NZTA has introduced a bus priority system on State Highway 1 northbound to the Auckland Harbor Bridge, in an attempt to reduce congestion for crowded buses.

This bus priority system will allow buses to access the northbound SH1 entrance ramp on Fanshawe St via a new priority lane, allowing buses to avoid queuing traffic, AT said in a statement.

This bus priority system will merge with other traffic near the Curran St entrance ramp, which is now closed, the organization said.

But the shutdown is wreaking havoc across Ponsonby, where traffic is stopped.

A motorist told the Herald that cars exiting the Shelly Beach exit ramp into Ponsonby and the city could no longer go up Shelly Beach Rd and Jervois Rd, as traffic would normally turn left onto Curran St now it’s blocking both towards College Hill. .

“There was no sign that the Curran St entrance ramp was closed until I got off Jervois Rd,” he said.

“I’m sitting here in absolute chaos and it’s only going to get worse.”

Motorists are encouraged to use alternate routes if possible.

Newstalk ZB Timesaver Traffic advises that the current access points are:

• The northbound highway northbound is very slow and currently takes about 20 minutes to reach the harbor bridge from the start of the queue at Newmarket.

• Upper Harbor Highway is slow heading east towards Northern Motorway, with traffic back to Greenhithe Bridge

• The northwest highway is slow heading west from the city to Te Atatu.

Shortly after 3:00 p.m. M., Travelers trying to overcome the rush to get home were already facing delays, and construction along the roads leading out of Auckland’s CBD towards the North Shore.

Halsey St, near Victoria Park, was packed with vehicles trying to turn the corner onto Fanshawe St, meanwhile the access ramp to the Northern Motorway was completely full.

Traffic exited the Victoria Tunnel, with four lanes open before closing at two before the Shelly Beach Rd overpass.

However, traffic on the bridge was steadily heading towards the North Shore without much trouble. To the south, congestion is building up from the bridge past Esmonde Rd.

Shortly before 3.30 p.m. M., Two people with high-visibility work equipment were at a cherry picker, and they appeared to be assessing the damage along the bridge.

Two other workers were standing below, but others could not be seen. Traffic on Onewa Rd and onto the highway is almost non-existent.

Only four lanes on the bridge are open and this is expected to remain that way for several weeks so that temporary repairs can be made.

This means that the bridge will operate at half its normal capacity, pushing traffic onto the western ring route and other state and local highways.

The trip home to the North Shore for a reporter took 40 minutes, after leaving the CBD around 3pm.

The reporter said that the daily commute to work was more or less standard, or a little longer than going home during normal rush hour.

Auckland commuters faced horrendous travel times on main routes into central Auckland this morning, even as late as 11am. M., And the expected travel times from the top of the north highway to the CBD still take up to three times longer than normal.

And the nightmare ride was not helped by an earlier accident on a stretch of the busy North Shore Highway, adding to the headache motorists already face on congested roads.

With motorists eager to avoid getting caught in the anticipated traffic jam, the morning spike began at dawn around 6.30 a.m., and traffic easily eclipsed rush hour levels an hour earlier than usual.

This meant that at 7 a.m., motorists were faced with a one-hour drive from Albany to Auckland’s CBD, a 20km journey, which would have taken just 20 minutes at the same time last week.

Today, AA said that while the delays were strong this morning, they were not a patch on Friday’s carnage.

But the traffic had remained very heavy until well after the normal rush hour in the morning. Even at 10.30 a.m. M., It took almost half an hour to get to the CBD from Albany.

The considerable delays have prompted NZTA to ask motorists who came out of the city’s second lockdown three weeks ago to consider staying home or traveling off-peak.

While many travelers were suffering, it could have been worse.

AA said it was clear that many people had gotten the message and were changing the time they traveled, the route they normally took or were working from home today.

Waka Kotahi / NZTA senior travel manager Neil Walker said the continued closure of all four lanes, for what is likely to be several weeks, would cause “significant disruption” to many travelers.

“If you must travel, avoid rush hours in the morning and evening and allow more time for your commute,” he said.

“Heavy congestion and delays are expected on both sides of the bridge, as well as other state and local highways.”

Motorists were encouraged to take the western ring route instead, but this route would be especially busy as now only half the normal capacity can travel across the Auckland Harbor Bridge.

Despite long waits for many motorists, Auckland Transport says the northern buses were running almost on time this morning.

AT CEO Shane Ellison says that on the busway at 7 am, the trip from Albany to the city took about 30 minutes, with no delays heading north.

By car, the same trip was 90 minutes.

“Our joint operations center with the Waka Kotahi NZ Transportation Agency has been monitoring traffic 24/7 and adjusting traffic signs in real time,” he said.

“We are considering making some changes to prioritize buses at pinch points like the top of Onewa Rd in Birkenhead.

“There were no capacity issues or long waits at busway stations or ferry terminals this morning, there were seats available on buses and ferries.

“We have seen many familiar faces return to public transport this morning after driving during the Covid crisis, the first reports suggest that the number of passengers increased between 20 and 30 percent last Monday.”

Passenger use on the Birkenhead and Devonport ferries also increased more than 30 percent this morning, Ellison said.