Commuters face gridlock after two-vehicle crash closes SH1 southbound lanes, motorists urged to avoid travel

Desperate motorists stranded in gridlocked motorway traffic after a serious Wellington crash closed SH1 are abandoning their vehicles and commuting by foot.

Southbound lanes on State Highway 1 north of Wellington remained closed as of 10pm following a serious two-vehicle crash.

Some drivers have been stranded for hours with NZTA advising motorists to avoid the area “until further notice”.

One driver who had been stuck in traffic for over three hours told RNZ “people seem to be panicking and trying to drive up the shoulder”.

“They are trying to cut each other off. Seems pointless because no one is moving.”

Another stranded motorist waiting for four hours said people had started parking their cars and walking away across the motorway.

Elise Bailey told RNZ she’d seen more than 20 people, including some with toddlers, walk along the motorway and cross the median barrier into oncoming traffic.

“Having to cross across oncoming traffic ... traffic is still moving on the northbound side - people [are] having to cross with kids in order to get off the motorway.”

Bailey was waiting at a nearby McDonald’s to stay warm.

Emergency services were called to the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway about 4.40pm after a collision in the southbound lanes between the Tawa-Grenada North on-ramp and the Churton Park-Glenside off-ramp.

One person has suffered serious injuries and the Serious Crash Unit has been notified.

Motorists are being advised to avoid travelling if possible, with delays expected to continue as emergency responders remain on the scene.

Traffic was heavily backed up along the motorway, with congestion stretching from Porirua to Glenside.

Nidhi Bhargava was travelling from Porirua to Wellington to drop her daughter off to the train station when she became caught in the motorway gridlock.

She told the Herald her family had already been stuck for nearly two hours.

“We were meant to reach Wellington around 5pm”, she said. “It was very bad, there’s a lot of traffic overall on the motorway.”

Instead, the family decided to detour to Petone to get Bhargava’s daughter to her final destination.

Those travelling northbound were also experiencing delays as the right northbound lane was partially blocked, creating slow movement from the Ngauranga Gorge onwards.

Earlier, a crash near the Haywards interchange blocked the right northbound lane of State Highway 2, a possible alternative route for those avoiding the SH1 road closure.