Congestion strikes Auckland's Southern Motorway again - despite tunnel

Victoria Park Tunnel. Photo / Richard Robinson

Serious congestion struck Auckland's Southern Motorway for the second evening running as drivers continued to accustom themselves to the new Victoria Park tunnel.

By 6pm last night, a tail of stop-start traffic snaked from the northbound-only tunnel to Highbrook, south of Otahuhu, resulting in what the Transport Agency estimated were delays of about 40 minutes.

Although there is no reduction in traffic capacity through the area, neither will there be any additional space for vehicles until January, when all four lanes of the viaduct will be available to southbound traffic.