Transmission Gully: Motorists asked for patience, told delays are 'for the greater good'

Wellington motorists are asked to "bear with" transport authorities as they navigate the ongoing work on Transmission Gully.

Southbound commuters from the Kāpiti Coast on SH1 have been suffering delays all week, with one driver reporting it took two-and-a-half hours to travel 66km on Wednesday morning.

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) regional transport assistant manager Mark Owen said the agency acknowledged and apologised for the delays during morning peak hour.

"This has eventuated because we've done a switch on the traffic on to a short section of the Transmission Gully Alignment.

"This has allowed them to work on the parallel road where the traffic was travelling. We are disappointed the switch to the new alignment didn't go as smoothly as planned."

He said the delays had been exacerbated by a change in the surfacing type, which drivers were still getting used to.

"There's also a change in the surfacing type and we think this is probably one of the key drivers about why people are slowing right down.

"It's a new chip seal surface so if you're travelling over it at speed some of the chips flick up and make quite a bit of noise on the underside of the car.

"We've got our crews out there sweeping it to make sure we remove all that loose chip."

They hoped the loose chip would become more settled over the next few days, but asked drivers to be careful in the meantime.

The weather, and the business time of year had not helped matters, he said.

He said they were looking at ways to minimise the disruption but said the "short term delays" were for the greater good of the Transmission Gully project,

"We just ask people to bear with us, we know there is going to be some pain, there is going to be some delays.

The Transmission Gully construction site at Battle Hill, north of Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"We're looking at ways to smooth the flow and looking at opportunities for merging and doing all we can to work with those that are travelling to minimise that disruption.

"But we do want to flag that there's a lot of work happening and it's for the greater good."

The Transmission Gully motorway was scheduled to be completed in September 2021.