Transit Regional Office Auckland

8 June 2006

MEDIA RELEASE

Transit Suggests Motorists Avoid Southern Motorway

Transit New Zealand advises motorists having to travel on the Southern Motorway – in the vicinity of Mt Wellington – to use an alternative route as congestion in the area of the new Sylvia Park shopping centre is causing significant delays on the motorway.

At present, traffic is slow moving on all northbound lanes of the Southern Motorway between East Tamaki and Mt Wellington, where a large queue is forming at the Mt Wellington off-ramp.

Transit Regional Manager (acting), Peter Spies, says motorists from the city travelling to east Auckland should go via Ellerslie Panmure Highway, while those heading south of Mt Wellington should use Great South Road.

He says Transit is working closely with Auckland City Council and Sylvia Park centre management to get vehicles off the motorway and into the shopping centre parking areas more quickly.

‘Our prime objective is to get the motorway free of congestion as quickly as possible,” says Mr Spies. ‘Transit’s Traffic Management Unit is monitoring the situation closely and will keep on sending out messages to inform and update motorists until the traffic normalises.

He says the messages will be sent via news bulletins to radio stations and other media and will also be conveyed via message signs on overhead gantries on the motorway.

ENDS

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