Subscribe to RSSManukau Delays, Congestion Update
“Severe delays” are reported around Manukau with the new motorway changes just introduced. The westbound lanes of the new SH20-1 Manukau Extension motorway are now open.
NZTA reports Roscommon Road and Noel Burnside Road are very congested and there are severe delays.
NZTA’s Traffic Management Unit Manager Mark Walker says this is the first week of the new road layout which will take some time to get used to.
Access to the motorway from Roscommon Road is closed and motorists are urged to avoid it.
NZTA’s Tommy Parker says it was essential to close access from Roscommon Road so that workers can safely complete the third and final section of the motorway project, which joins SH20 and SH1 motorways and provides a strategic link with the airport.
“I can understand the frustration experienced in this morning’s peak, but people need to drive with care and patience while we finish the project and can deliver the full benefits of the new motorway,” he adds.
The best ways to get onto the new SH20 motorway are via SH1 at Redoubt Road, Hill Road and Takanini on-ramps.
The opening of the westbound lanes is the second stage of the new Manukau motorway opening.
The changes will be place for three months until late December so that the final work on the new motorway can be completed.
To help avoid queues the NZTA advises:
- Access the new westbound lanes from Redoubt Rd interchange [SH1], Hill Road and Takanini on-ramps [SH1], and Lambie Drive interchange [SH20]
- Heading to Manukau city centre, use Wiri Station and Great South Roads
- Driving to Puhinui Rd [SH20B] or the Manukau Memorial Gardens, follow the detour from the new Cavendish Interchange
- People driving from the south can access the airport on SH20 and George Bolt Memorial Drive [SH20A]
- Motorists should also leave an extra time for their journeys in the morning – particularly if they’re travelling to Auckland International Airport.”
7 Comments
I took the new SH20 westbound yesterday, it was pretty good and we got from Manukau to around Hillsborough in only about 10 minutes. It felt far faster than going a similar distance up SH1.
I also took this link yesterday, saved my 10 minutes to get to the airport, although the distance was probably 10km longer.
I will actually feel guilty driving it - new motorways are nice driving on them. So convenient, you forget all the downsides, such as the traffic gridlock they cause elsewhere and “down the road” a few years later.
It would be so much cooler to talk about how I took the Manukau-Onehunga-Avondale train yesterday.
One crazy thing they have done with the opening of the Western lanes of SH20 at Manukau is to change the access to the motorways from Redoubt Road (coming from Manukau city.
During construction, there were two right turn lanes onto SH1 south, and one going straight ahead in Redoubt Rd.
Now, they have made it two going straight on Redoubt, and only one turning right onto SH1/SH20.
Why is this a problem?
1) there have always been long queues occupying both right turn lanes back to the northbound onramp and now with only one lane, this will become worse.
2) they have only put a sign on the far left of the road (which is hard to see, esp if you are looking at traffic stopping ahead of you) indicating the lane changes, so there is a mess with cars stopping in the new straight ahead lane, waiting to turn right as they used to, and also confusion once you are on the on ramps, as many drivers do not know the right lane is only for SH20 - result, many sudden lane changes and cars stopping where the lanes to SH1 and SH20 split, trying to go on the SH1 on ramp. Also, until today, the road-surface arrows on Redoubt still had the two right turning arrows marked, causing further confusion! They have finally corrected the middle lane to straight ahead.
Solution - return to the two right turning lanes, and put overhead gantry with lane indications, so that the middle lane is flagged as SH1 and the right lane is flagged as SH20.
This might be great for people heading west but what about people commuting to the city from south auckland? Getting home in the evening has gone from approx 22 minutes from Mt Wellington to Papakura to 45-50 minutes. Its obvious the motorway cannot handle 3 lanes coming on at Manukau, now traffic slows to a crawl once you pass Redoubt Road when in the past this was where it freed up.
Hopefully this has already been noticed and a solution is being looked into.
And this $100 million + project has been a waste of money. 10minute gain to the airport and an extra hour for the majority travelling sout on SH1. As motorists take the Ti Irirangi and Redoubt Road off ramps to avoid sitting in motionless traffic they in fact are causing a gridlock lock along Redoubt Rd and Tthe Great South Road.
Apparently funding is running out and we will have to put up with it.
Solution - STOP the present progress and use the money at the cause of the problem at Takanini where the five lanes go into two then finish off the rest.
this whole thing is an absolute disaster. 5 lanes merging into 2.??! WTF… Its made my trip from the city to pukekohe 45 minutes longer. Thats 45 minutes less with the kids every single day. We cant live with this so are now putting our house on the market as we cant handle this poor planned 3rd world interchange any longer. shame.