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The consequences of crippling delays at Auckland ports will be most visible on the road between Auckland and Whangārei in the coming days.
As of Friday, Waka Kotahi says there will be an additional 800 heavy vehicle movements on this section of State Highway 1.
This is because about 1,200 containers of consumer goods need to be unloaded from the Constantinos P freighter, which was diverted to NorthPort to avoid delays at Auckland ports.
Up to 12 trucks are expected to leave Northport every hour from 6 a.m. to midnight for the next seven days.
Many empty trucks will make the return trip to load another load.
State Highway 1 runs through downtown Wellsford, on the northern border of the Auckland region, and locals aren’t expecting the extra traffic.
“It’s just constant noise, constant noise. You can’t turn around, you can’t get off the streets. It just never stops,” one person said. Control.
“It’s preventing a lot of people from reaching the city because they just can’t park anywhere, you can’t safely cross the street. We have a crosswalk. A real nightmare.”
The fewer trucks on the road the better, said another.
“It seems a bit strange, we have a big railroad there and it is not used as much as I think it could be.
“This is State Highway 1 and we have crosswalks, people trying to cross all the time and some trucks go through here pretty fast, and they always seem to be beeping cars trying to get out. So there’s a lot of congestion and kind of choke point in Wellsford, I think for traffic in general, “he said.
One store worker described it as horrible, with the noise and roar of trucks that shook the entire store.
“It also makes people who only drive cars a little anxious because they are behind trucks. They want to go to work and therefore when you cross a [crossing] they are not so careful.
“At least once a day you’ll be on a pedestrian and someone won’t stop for you. It’s quite dangerous actually … not ideal at all.”
