Subscribe to RSSNorthern Gateway Work Being Done
I had to travel north last week and love the Northern Gateway. I’m quite happy to pay $2 to get a quicker ride, even though the traffic I struck trying to get to Albany at rushhour made me realise the stressful stop-start rides many Aucklanders experience every day.
But I can’t make out why so many Auckland-bound people approaching the toll road decide to take the offroad to queue at the self-service ticket place, when it’s so easy just to pay online, especially as you’re given a few days to do so after you’ve made the trip.
By the time they fiddled around getting the payment after queuing, there was little advantage in cutting time travelling by using the tunnel.
I’ve changed my mind about tolling - and if this is the quickest way to get such an roading improvement constructed, it’s fair to pay a gold coin to get through, even though the agency doesn’t seem to be making much money by the time collection costs are deducted. Hopefully, they’ll work out the economics of that soon.
By the way, if you’re using the Northern Gateway Toll Road in the next few days, drive with care this week, because of regular maintenance work being done in the twin tunnels at Johnstone’s Hill.
While maintenance work is carried out on the northbound tunnel, tomorrow (Tuesday), the southbound tunnel will be temporarily re-configured to carry two-way traffic.
The work near Warkworth
There's also work being done when leaving the Warkworth township
The next day, Wednesday, maintenance work will switch to the southbound tunnel and northbound one will be reconfigured to carry two-way traffic. The maintenance work includes servicing and testing the tunnels’ electrical, mechanical and fire safety systems.
The walls of both tunnels will also be cleaned. There have been around two-and-a-half million trips on the toll road during its first year.
1 Comments
Still haven’t worked out why they haven’t setup a pay-by-text option. Would be simplest to just text your license plate to 2242 or whatever once you’ve reached your destination and it gets deducted from your phone account. Saves having to get out your car or go online and the cost to collect from vodafone/telecom surely can’t be much more than they’re paying at the moment.