Wellington traffic woes ease after a day of congestion

Wednesday, 23 December 2020

This licence plate spotted during a standstill in traffic on SH1 near Plimmerton described the mood of many delayed motorists on Wednesday.

Queues of traffic in the wider Wellington region have now cleared after a day of congestion, as the Christmas exodus from the capital continues.

At 7.25pm, Waka Kotahi NZTA said all traffic queues on State Highway 1 and 2 had cleared and congestion had eased.

It follows a day of delays caused by travellers leaving Wellington and a crash on SH1 south of Ōtaki.

No one was injured, but there were significant delays both north and southbound as a result, with police asking motorists to avoid the area, unless it was urgent.

Areas which experienced significant delays included SH1, Pukerua Bay, where queues were back to the Plimmerton roundabout, Peka Peka, with queues back to the Waikanae Beach interchange, Te Horo to Ōtaki, where traffic was backed up northbound from Te Horo and southbound from Forest Lakes Rd.

Congestion was also seen on SH1 at the Hutt Rd off-ramp and on SH2, Ngauranga to Petone.

Traffic was at a standstill earlier on Wednesday on State Highway 1 heading to Te Horo.

Paekākāriki Hill Rd has reopened after being closed until 7pm.

Earlier, a Stuff visual journalist heading to Te Horo said he had moved 2 kilometres over the space of an hour.

Motorist Liz Hay told Stuff they left Plimmerton roundabout about 12.45pm. By 2pm they were still “well south of Ōtaki”.

“We're from the South Island and have never experienced anything like it. There are often sections where we don't move at all.”

Another motorist, Greg Halford, said an hour and 45 minutes after leaving Wellington they were still 10km out of Ōtaki.

The NZ Transport Agency said motorists should use its holiday journey hotspots tool to work out when and where delays were expected across the entire State Highway network.