Sylvia Park routes could be closed again

Transit NZ says it will not hesitate to close access routes off the Southern Motorway at Mt Wellington again if there is a repeat of yesterday's traffic chaos around the opening of the Sylvia Park mega-shopping centre.

Frenzied shoppers hunting opening-day bargains such as $50 televisions flooded the aisles, but it was a fight for about 1500 carparks which caused the greatest mayhem, forcing the police and Transit to restrict access by mid-morning.

With traffic banked up past Otahuhu on the Southern Motorway, and local roads clogged for two to three kilometres in other directions, Transit closed both its Mt Wellington off-ramps for more than two hours after 10am.

Police also restricted access to the shopping centre itself, rationing vehicle movements to parking spaces rarely left vacant for more than a few seconds.

Cones across the motorway exits did not deter some motorists from driving around them and over grass verges to get through, said Transit acting regional manager Peter Spies.

The worst congestion was from the south, prompting the initial closure of just the northbound exit, but access from the other direction was also blocked after frustrated motorists turned around at Ellerslie to try to get to Sylvia Park that way.

Mr Spies said the clampdown was a last resort, after failed attempts to regulate traffic on local roads, and to use flashing motorway message signs to warn that the carparks were full.

He promised to keep a close watch on the area over the new few days, to ensure the new centre complied fully with its traffic management conditions, but the initial impression was that the chaos was an abnormal circumstance caused by opening-day bargain-hunters.

Asked if Transit would close access routes again, he said it would do whatever necessary to alleviate congestion on the motorway.

Angus McNaughton, chief executive of Sylvia Park developer Kiwi Income Property Trust, attributed the traffic nightmare to the opening-day rush, which he likened to a test rugby match.

He lost track of the numbers but said the Warehouse Extra store, after a huge promotion, had between 2000 and 3000 people in it at any one time.

One problem was that most motorists tried to squeeze into an entrance from Mt Wellington Highway, when there was another available from that direction, and a third access route over the railway line from Carbine Rd east of the shopping centre.

Another entry from Mt Wellington Highway, now restricted to construction traffic, will ultimately be open to the public. "It will settle down very quickly," Mr McNaughton promised.

Although each entrance is controlled by traffic lights, he said "points" staff would be available today if necessary to help vehicle flows around the centre, and 200 or so more parking spaces would be made available.

He said buses had already started running there, and the centre was "desperate" to get a train station built.

Under its Auckland City Council resource consent, Kiwi Income must build a new railway station and bus station capable of taking eight buses by the time 30,000sq m of gross floor space opens.

The first stage of 57 shops has 22,700sq m of floor space and stage two, due to open by the end of August, will add 14,000sq m.

Plans have been completed for the railway station but it will not be open until next year, Mr McNaughton said.

If traffic congestion persists, the council can make Kiwi Income upgrade more key roads and intersections leading to Sylvia Park. These include Mt Wellington Highway and the intersections of Mt Wellington Highway/Waipuna Rd, Carbine Rd/Waipuna Rd, Carbine Rd/South Eastern Highway and Waipuna Rd/South Eastern Highway.

National's transport spokesman, Pakuranga MP Maurice Williamson, said the traffic debacle exposed the inadequacies of Auckland's "Third World" roading network.