Motorists on Auckland’s Southern Corridor are enjoying the benefits of less congestion and significantly improved journey times towards the city since the opening of a new on-ramp at Takanini.

The new northbound on-ramp to State Highway 1 opened fully on Monday, 11 February as part of the upgrade of the Takanini Interchange which is part of the wider Southern Corridor Improvements project.

The NZ Transport Agency’s Senior Manager Project Delivery, Chris Hunt, says the opening of the longer merge lane has removed a significant bottleneck by making it easier for traffic to get on to the motorway via the dedicated 700 metre merge lane.

“We are still collecting the data to see the new travel times but anecdotally motorists are telling us they are enjoying significantly shorter journeys between Drury and Manukau, especially during the busy morning travel peak.”

It’s also having an impact on local roads such as Great South Road and for people using SH22 from Pukekohe. Congestion is also easing earlier than it had been prior to the on-ramp opening.

“We understand that growing traffic volumes and construction work has been frustrating for people using this stretch of motorway and we’re really pleased they are now experiencing the benefits of all this work.”

“Regular users of the motorway are telling us they can’t believe the improvement, that they are enjoying free flowing traffic through Takanini and some have been getting to work in half the time.”

A third northbound lane through the interchange will open in late 2019, with the project due to be fully finished by the end of 2019.

The Southern Corridor Improvements Project covers a stretch of SH1 from the SH20/SH1 connection at Manukau down to the Papakura interchange in the south. The project includes additional lanes in both directions and the upgraded Takanini interchange. There’s also a 4.5km shared use path for pedestrians and cyclists between Papakura and Takanini, including a prominent walking and cycling bridge connection over the motorway to connect the Papakura and Karaka communities.

See more at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/southern-corridor-improvements/

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