Auckland Harbour Bridge: Motorists warned over delays heading south

Travel over the Auckland Harbour Bridge is still a bit slow but at least it's open today. Photo / Alex Burton / File

Motorists heading to work over Auckland's Harbour Bridge this morning are in for delays this morning but nothing on the same scale that brought the motorway to a standstill during rush hour yesterday.

With winds on the bridge blowing a moderate 15 km/h, motorists have returned to using the bridge despite only three lanes open after it was damaged in a truck crash nearly a fortnight ago.

Yesterday the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi was forced to shut the bridge for an hour when winds gusting nearly 100 km/h barrelled through the Waitemata Harbour crossing, fearing the safety of motorists on the compromised structure.

It caused a massive headache for everyone heading to work on the motorway, with both the main SH1 crossing grinding to a standstill and a spate of crashes causing a similar nightmare trip for those taking the congested alternate western ring route.

Today the roading agency is telling commuters heading to work to consider using the Western Ring Route to travel south, instead of the bridge.

At 6.15am long queues were forming back to Northcote Rd from the bridge, and travel times were more than double the normal time it took to get in.

The agency reported it was taking 40 minutes to get from Silverdale to the city over the bridge.

It was taking 50 minutes using the Western Ring Route.

A breakdown on Upper Harbour Highway heading west was causing problems just before 7am, with delays expected on the stretch of highway until it was cleared.

UPDATE 6:45AM
Unfortunately we are experiencing a data issue with these travel times currently. Silverdale to City via SH1 presently 40mins, via WRR 50mins. ^TPhttps://t.co/qnkGoPP3uT

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 29, 2020

Meanwhile it's hoped all eight lanes will be back in use next week with plans to install the giant replacement strut scheduled to take place overnight Saturday.

Yesterday the transport agency announced all southbound lanes of the bridge would be closed from 9pm to install the permanent 22.7m strut.

PLAN AHEAD: This Saturday (03 Oct) all southbound lanes of the AHB are scheduled to CLOSE OVERNIGHT from 9pm to install a 22.7 metre strut that will be a permanent load-bearing fix for the bridge. This will be the first step of a multi-staged process: https://t.co/uArByo1U9A. ^MF pic.twitter.com/EcQ70Jte01

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) September 29, 2020