Two bouts of congestion rile Whangarei motorists

Road closures from the International Rally of Whangarei caused headaches for commuters. Photo/John Stone

Two lots of gridlock within three days saw Whangarei drivers taking an hour to travel distances that would normally take minutes.

Friday night's gridlock started at 5pm, when commuters tried to go home as rally fans were arriving for a special stage of the Rally of Whangarei.

The stage involved the closure of Dave Culham Dr and the Te Matau a Pohe bridge.

And yesterday morning, a Hatea Dr traffic light fault contributed to gridlock as commuter traffic swelled again after two weeks of school holidays.

Whangarei District Council roading traffic project engineer Brendon Tong said a Hatea Dr traffic light-phase fault was hoped to have been fixed yesterday.

He said drivers avoiding congestion on State Highway One had adding to the traffic on Kiripaka Rd, Kamo Rd, Nixon St, Bank St and Hatea Drive.

"We will continue to monitor the traffic and to tweak things where we can. We're sorry for the inconvenience and we appreciate people's patience in the meantime."

On the Northern Advocate Facebook page, Kaye Buchanan said it took 20 minutes to get from Fairway Drive to the Whau Valley lights at 8am.

Karla Scott said her normal five minute trip from Tikipunga Hill to Rathbone St took 50 minutes, while Lachlan Murray's 10 minute school run took over an hour.

Jared Dee said the intersection between Hatea Drive, Riverside Drive and Dent St was only letting five cars at a time through from Hatea Dr.

An accident involving two vehicles on Kamo Rd near the Kensington shops at 9am may have worsened the traffic woes.

One person was taken to hospital for medical reasons.

Meanwhile, Friday night's gridlock was exacerbated by trains after a road closure for the International Rally of Whangarei.

Dave Culham Drive and Te Matua a Pohe were closed for the Hella Pohe Island Super Special Stage on Friday night from 3pm to 10pm, causing traffic jams as commuter left the city and rally fans arrived.

Council chief executive officer Rob Forlong said he was satisfied with the advance public notice given in the Whangarei Leader for the closure, and the traffic management process the council followed.

"In addition, VMS boards [big illuminated road signs] were located at Dave Culham drive and Port Rd, and shifted to face the peak traffic morning and night on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday."

Mr Forlong acknowledged there were issues that needed to be addressed going forward, particularly with the British and Irish Lions rugby match on June 3.

"Unusually we also had two train movements at the end of Kioreroa Road at around the same time. That stopped traffic getting out of Kioreroa on to Port Rd, and started a backlog."

Mr Forlong apologised to "anyone who was inconvenienced, and we will focus on the lessons we can learn".

"With the British and Irish Lions game we could face the same interest and visitor numbers, so we will be planning ahead at council and I'd advise drivers to do so too."