SH1 traffic slows down indefinitely over Newmarket

Media release

Newmarket Business Association

Sunday 16 August 2009

SH1 traffic slowed down indefinitely over Newmarket from tomorrow

Drivers travelling over State Highway One’s Newmarket Viaduct will be forced to slow down from tomorrow (Monday 17 August) as work intensifies on the massive Newmarket Viaduct Replacement Project. The business community beneath the motorway viaduct is calling for drivers to be patient, saying any disruption over the next three years will be minimised and worth it.

“This is one of the biggest single roading structures built in central Auckland since the Harbour Bridge 50 years ago. However we’re asking drivers not to be put off by all the roadworks and to keep using the viaduct. We’re not expecting the forced slowdown to have much impact as peak-hour traffic is already very slow over the viaduct. What we don’t want is drivers to think they’ll save time by getting off the motorway and rat-running through Newmarket’s arterial roads and suburban streets. That would only add to congestion,” says Cameron Brewer, head of the Newmarket Business Association.

“The viaduct’s construction period will have more impact on Aucklanders than when the Harbour Bridge was being built in the 1950s. That’s because 160,000 vehicles already use that section of the motorway, making it one of the busiest motorway stretches in New Zealand. However like the bridge opening we will be pushing for Aucklanders to be able to stroll across the new southbound structure once it’s completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.”

From tomorrow NZTA’s long-term traffic management measures will see the southbound lanes narrowed and the speed limit reduced from 100km/h to 70km/h, while traffic on the northbound lanes will be reduced to 80km/h.

The new $215 million seven-lane Newmarket viaduct is being built in stages and due to be completed in December 2012. Stage one, now under construction, will see a new four-lane southbound motorway bridge built on the Newmarket side of the existing three-lane structure.

“We can’t wait for this massive civil engineering project to be completed. The additional southbound lane will help traffic flow on the Southern Motorway, but importantly for Newmarket the completion of the viaduct will spur on economic development beneath. Once the new viaduct is completed, that end of Broadway will see more businesses and intensification. Over the last few years with the project pending there has been little investment at that end of Broadway as a lot of tenants knew they’d have to vacate.

“Not only will this new viaduct be good for safety reasons and for motorway traffic flow, but it will help cement Broadway as a leading main street in Auckland. In the meantime we’re asking Auckland drivers to continue using the viaduct, but remember they’re driving through a live construction zone,” says Mr Brewer.

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