Harbour bridge damage: City on-ramp closure adds to widespread evening delays

Monday, 21 September 2020

Waka Kotahi general manager transport services Brett Gliddon on the next steps for Auckland's Harbour Bridge

Congestion is finally easing on some Ponsonby streets after the closure of the Curran St on-ramp for saw them become clogged.

The on-ramp has been closed due to the creation of a dedicated “bus priority lane” after damage to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Traffic on Monday afternoon and well into the evening was crawling along Shelly Beach Rd, Jervois Rd, College Hill and Beaumont St as motorists tried to navigate the new changes, lauded by transport authorities as “teamwork”.

It comes as Auckland commuters continue to face extensive delays region-wide after a freak accident on Friday saw half of the lanes on the bridge shut down.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) announced on Monday afternoon that work on a temporary fix, which could reopen some lanes, will begin on Tuesday night.

The closure of the Curran St on-ramp for a bus priority lane has seen roads around the Ponsonby area become clogged, according to a resident.

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Motorway traffic barely moving trying to get onto the bridge near Hopetoun St overbridge at 4.30pm Monday.

Brett Gliddon, NZTA’s general manager of transport services, said the repair work meant southbound clip-on lanes would be closed overnight from Tuesday for about two nights.

A detour would be in place via the Western Ring Route.

The overnight closures, from 9pm Tuesday until 5am Wednesday, would allow the NZTA space to bring steel in and ensure the health and safety of workers on the bridge, he said.

The bus priority system allows buses to access the SH1 northbound on-ramp at Fanshawe St via a new priority lane, allowing buses to bypass the queueing traffic.

Traffic near the harbour bridge on Monday afternoon about 5pm.

This priority lane on to the motorway merges with the general traffic at the entrance to the bridge.

Motorists who would usually use the Curran St on-ramp are advised to follow the sign-posted detour route to the Fanshawe St northbound on-ramp.

The priority lane will be in place until the bridge is fully operational again, which could be a number of weeks.

Traffic appears to be flowing across the harbour bridge itself.

By 8pm, congestion looked to have eased along Shelly Beach Rd, Jervois Rd, College Hill and Beaumont St, but were not yet clear of traffic.

The Western Ring Route was flowing.

About 6.30pm, travel delays on the Western Ring Route had eased, with it taking about 30 to 40 minutes to reach the North Shore.

Vehicles on the bridge's clip-on lanes about 5.30pm Monday.

A Stuff journalist described traffic throughout Ponsonby as “bumper to bumper” as motorists tried to get on to the motorway through side-streets and said many vehicles were stationary.

Like many streets throughout the Ponsonby area, vehicles on Sarsfield St in Herne Bay were bumper to bumper about 6.30pm.

Earlier, a local resident said nobody could get onto the motorway from Ponsonby or surrounding areas due to the resulting congestion.

She said motorists were feeding under the bridge and back up onto Shelley Beach Rd in an attempt to navigate the “complete gridlock”.

“The other traffic that would normally go down Curran [St] and hasn’t is congesting Jervois [Rd] so nothing can feed onto Jervois Rd.”

Workers in the area who were trying to get home had reportedly been stuck in the gridlock for more than an hour.

Meanwhile, travel from the city along the Western Ring Route (SH18, SH16 and 20) was taking about an hour to reach the North Shore.

However, northbound traffic on the bridge itself appeared to be flowing.

On Monday morning, between 6am and 10am, 11,500 vehicles crossed the bridge northbound – 30 per cent fewer than the same time last week.

About 11,000 vehicles from the North Shore crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge between 6am and 10am – 16,000 fewer than at the same time last week.

Meanwhile, Upper Harbour Hwy (SH18) saw 11,600 vehicles travel southbound, 4000 more along the route than the previous week.

Just over 11,000 vehicles travelled north on Upper Harbour Dr, 14 per cent more than last week.

The NZTA is asking people on the North Shore to work from home if possible, or to use the Western Ring Route or buses if not.