Tunnel work will close on-ramp for three months

The Wellington St on-ramp should be open again in time for the Christmas rush. Photo / Paul Estcourt

North Shore commuters will face extra delays driving home from Auckland for three months from this afternoon while the Wellington St motorway on-ramp is closed for construction work.

The Transport Agency is blocking the ramp until the end of November so support walls can be built for the southern entrance to the motorway tunnel being dug through Victoria Park.

That will mean longer peak-time traffic queues at remaining entry points to the motorway, notably from Fanshawe St, which the agency suggests drivers consider avoiding in favour of the northbound link from Grafton Gully.

Changes have been made to ease traffic flow at both locations, including adjusting ramp signals on the Grafton Gully motorway entrance to allow more vehicles through on each green phase of the lights.

The agency will also try to keep traffic moving from Fanshawe St to the motorway by prohibiting right turns from Beaumont St.

Drivers heading to the harbour bridge from Wynyard Quarter will have to do so from Halsey St instead, where lanes have been reconfigured and a pedestrian crossing moved at the intersection with Fanshawe St to provide more capacity for right turns.

Despite these measures, the Transport Agency is suggesting North Shore commuters consider varying their working hours if possible to avoid the evening peak.

It has also paid for a 150-vehicle temporary park-and-ride site at the Harbourside Church in Esmonde Rd, Takapuna, where commuters can leave their cars and catch buses across the bridge instead.

Transport Agency highways manager Tommy Parker said the alternative to closing the Wellington St ramp for a concentrated three-month period would have been to spread the work and consequent traffic disruption over 40 weekends.

"This means we can get in, get the work done and be out of there before the Christmas rush," he said.

The ramp closure is one of two big traffic management challenges for the agency, which will also close all southbound lanes of the Newmarket Viaduct for up to 36 hours from 5pm on Saturday, September 4, while it links a new replacement structure to the motorway.

Contractors on the $406 million Victoria Park tunnel project, which includes widening the motorway through St Marys Bay to the harbour bridge, are meanwhile preparing to move the historic Rob Roy Hotel - also known as the Birdcage - clear of their excavation site on Tuesday next week.

They will use hydraulic rams to "gently muscle" the 124-year-old heritage building 40m up Franklin Rd on four long concrete runway beams.

It will sit on this temporary site for about six months before being slid back to its original location.

By then, the motorway tunnel's southern entrance will have been completed and the hotel will be placed on top of it to await restoration as the backdrop for a plaza at the intersection of Franklin Rd and Victoria St West.

Mr Parker said next week's move would be slow and careful.

"It will be the climax of six months of painstaking planning and preparation that will protect the Rob Roy as a landmark of the Freemans Bay community for the next 100 years," he said.

Although the two-storey brick building has been structurally strengthened for the move, it was critical that it remain level at all times, meaning continuous monitoring of ground levels and adjustments as required.

"All going well, the move will take between six and 10 hours," Mr Parker said. "But the team will take whatever time it needs to complete a very careful operation for a very special Aucklander."

LONGER ROAD HOME

Wellington St motorway ramp closes today until the end of November.

To reduce delays on the Fanshawe St ramp, the Transport Agency says commuters should consider:

* Changing travel times to avoid the 4pm-6pm traffic peaks.
* Using an alternative route, including the northbound link from Grafton Gully, and the Curran St ramp from Ponsonby.
* Using ferries or buses, which have priority lanes on motorway approach roads.
* Car-pooling to reduce vehicle numbers.