Traffic Warning: Congested Roads Expected As New Years Travel And Summer Exodus Begin

Motorists are cautioned to expect heavy traffic today as tourists drive through the country.

Those traveling to North Auckland are cautioned that the roads will be busy all day in various areas from 7am to 8pm.

The busiest area in the Auckland region is on State Highway 1 around Puhoi, which New Zealand’s transport agency, Waka Kotahi, expects to be crowded from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

By 10 a.m., traffic had been reduced to a minimum at Warkworth in the north and Papakura in the south. One motorist called it “a real creep”.

A woman has posted a nearly two minute long video heading south from the Puhoi tunnel of southbound traffic.

Southbound traffic is likely to be heaviest between Manukau and Bombay from 9.30am for most of the day.

The situation was no better further south in and around Wellington, where there were reports of backward traffic from Waikanae to Otaki on SH1.

The weather was also lousy, with rain and cold temperatures for most of the day in the region.

The congestion continued further north around Bulls to Sanson on SH3.

The warnings come as four people have so far been killed on the country’s highways in two separate crashes, already equivalent to the road toll from last year’s holiday period.

Two people were killed in an accident on Clevedon-Kawakawa Rd around 7:30 pm on Christmas Day. Emergency services alerted of a single vehicle accident at 7:30 pm

And two people were killed in an accident on Triangle Rd, Henderson, between Lincoln Rd and Waimumu Rd.

The accident was reported around 5.55am. M. It is understood that a car hit a bridge.

Two other people were seriously injured.

The toll period runs until 6 a.m. M. From Tuesday, January 5, 2021.