NZTA have announced that over the Father’s Day weekend at the start of September the Newmarket Viaduct will need to close for around 36 hours. This closure sounds essential in undertaking the last bits of “tying in” the existing roadway with the first half of the new viaduct, which has now been constructed.
Here’s what the media release says:
The NZ Transport Agency [NZTA] is advising people to avoid Auckland’s Southern Motorway on Father’s Day weekend [4 and 5 September] when it plans a maximum 36 hour closure of a section of the highway for necessary work to open the first stage of the new Newmarket Viaduct.
The motorway’s southbound lanes will be closed between the Gillies Ave off-ramp and Greenlane interchange from 5pm Saturday, 4 September, for final preparations to allow drivers on to the southbound lanes of the new viaduct from Monday morning, 6 September.
The NZTA’s State Highways Manager for Auckland, Tommy Parker, says closing a section of the southbound lanes has the potential to cause extensive congestion throughout Auckland and he advises people to stay away from the Southern Motorway that weekend.
“Travel delays will be inevitable, and they will be considerable and widespread” he says.
Detours are planned, but Mr Parker says the alternative routes will not be able to cope if regular weekend traffic flows occur.
“We’re talking about trying to re-direct up to 80,000 vehicles on the Sunday alone,” he adds. “Even with detours, the impact of the closure will be felt well beyond the Southern Motorway and people need to allow a lot more time for their journey if they do have to travel. “
Detour routes to key destinations, such as Auckland International Airport, are available online, at www.nzta.govt.nz/newmarketconnection and www.facebook.com/switchmyroute.
Mr Parker says construction of the new viaduct is ahead of schedule and the NZTA and its Newmarket Connection partners want to deliver the benefits from the project to drivers as quickly as possible.
“To have reached the stage where we’re now ready to switch southbound traffic across to the new structure, significantly ahead of schedule, without having previously closed the motorway to daytime traffic, is a remarkable achievement,” Mr Parker says. “We are now asking people to recognise these efforts in keeping the city moving, and support us through the closure.”
The Automobile Association is also urging people to avoid unnecessary trips. If they do have to travel says AA spokesman Simon Lambourne, they should plan their journeys and drive with patience and care.
“Congestion will be significant with the closure of the southbound lanes,” Mr Lambourne says, “but the short term pain will be well worth it given the long term benefits of the new viaduct.”
Over the next month, The NZTA will run an extensive communications campaign using traditional and social media to make people aware of the closure and its impact on travel.
During the closure, the viaduct’s new lanes will be connected to the motorway and the blue lifting gantry shifted on to the existing southbound lanes for stage 2 of the Newmarket Connection: Viaduct Replacement Project. When traffic is switched, work can also start to complete a fourth southbound lane across the viaduct to Greenlane, due to open early 2011.
The weekend before it opens to traffic, people will have the chance to walk over the new viaduct. The community event is planned for Sunday August 29, from 9am to midday. More information is available online at www.nzta.govt.nz/newmarketconnection and www.facebook.com/switchmyroute.
The closure is the second involving projects that will improve journey travel times through Auckland’s Central Motorway Junction – the country’s most congested section of highway. The Victoria Park Tunnel project is closing the north bound Wellington Street on-ramp for three months from 22 August. Mr Parker says neither closure will impact on the other.
Somewhat fortunately for myself, I will be out of the country by this weekend, starting my three week holiday to North America. However, for the rest of the world I can see this being absolutely chaotic. The Newmarket Viaduct carries on average well over 160,000 vehicles a day – and while over the weekend the number is much lower, we can still expect traffic chaos not only in the immediate vicinity but also on alternative routes.
As well as people simply avoiding the mess by staying at home on that day, I wonder whether NZTA should be looking at some potentially quite drastic measures to enable people to avoid driving – with the most obvious being why not make public transport free that weekend? The more people using public transport, the fewer who would be on the roads – and NZTA could well justify picking up the tab for the loss of fare revenue as mitigation for what will be an enormous disruption to the way traffic works in Auckland.
We might need to run a few more buses and trains, particularly on the Southern Line, but that has been done before for special occasions (such as Santa Parades). I wonder if it’s worth a try to at least help minimise the chaos.
I completely agree about the free public transport. Its slightly disappointing they talk about allowing more time to travel and not traveling where possible instead of traveling by different means. I really hope ARTA or Veolia take the opportunity to do an extensive marketing push about the weekend in question, and put on extra trains.
If you go to the NZTA webpage for the Victoria park tunnel (http://vicparktunnel.co.nz/), right on the front page they suggest public transport (in big bold text) as a way to avoid chaos during the Wellington street onramp closure.
I agree that ARTA should be using the opportunity to get more people using PT. Who knows, for some it will be a novelty catching the train that they might enjoy and start doing so on a more regular basis.
If they want people to use trains instead of driving on the Sunday, they are going to have to put on a lot more trains. Aren’t there only trains every hour on the western line on Sundays? They should shoot for trains every 20 minutes on all lines, if that’s possible.
There are only trains every hour on both the Southern and Western lines, it’s the Eastern line which has higher frequencies. It’s always been a mystery to me why they haven’t increased Newmarket’s frequencies on weekends, surely as one of Auckland’s main shopping destinations this would actually even be economical to run.
Yeah you would clearly need to increase train frequencies quite a bit if you wanted it to make a real difference.
I would be a great experiment to run – compare usage when it is free to when it is not.
you’re going away for 3 whole weeks? But how we will keep up with what is happening with transport in Auckland without your helpful daily digests?
Yeah good question. Hopefully will have some others blogging and be able to do the odd post myself.
I’ve got a couple of mental drafts I can write up while you’re away.
Are you taking in any Amtrak journeys in the states? Very cheap ways to get between major centres.
The Greyhound bus is a lot cheaper than Amtrak, but Amtrak is nicer.
No sleeper cabins on buses of course, plus the scenery from the interstate highway system might not be as good as some of the more spectacular lines.
This topic probably needs its own post, but a quick summary:
- New York to Boston: Amtrak
- Boston to Montral: plane
- Montreal to Quebec City (and back) ViaCanada train
- Montral to Washington DC: plane
- Washington DC to New York: Amtrak
Aww man.
Two things I’ve got to say:
1. Hopefully I’ll do that Via trip at some stage due to living in Montreal (hopefully with a rather gorgeous French Canadian who is down in these parts at the moment).
2. How come didn’t you try and get a train through the Rockies? I’d love to either do Chicago – LA or Toronto (or Calgary even) – Vancouver?
Either of those would be amazing!
I have done the Canadian rockies before. Did the Skeena Train from Prince Rupert to Japser, then drove the Icelands Parkway from Jasper to Banff. I haven’t been to the east coast of North America before though.
Its been about 20 years since I did the Washington – New York journey.
Its damn quick though. Pretty much over before you know it.
I’ve always been too cheap to catch the trains — there are really good Chinatown bus services between the main cities in the North East. Boston NY at least every hour for $15, $20 to DC. They even go to lots of the smaller towns and with travel mainly point to point, they are quick. Not quite sure what their safety record is though…
Hey would love to see those graphs with the projected use on there as well…. could be real interesting, anyone able to do that?
To me I don’t actually think NZTA should be providing free public transport, rather than the transport companies and ARTA working together to provide it as a promotional cost during the disruption. Contractors have been given strict notice, that there will not be closures on any other part of the Auckland Motorway network during this time to minimize disruption.
Free public transport is a great suggestion and should be promoted as a positive to all those aucklanders like myself who have not caught a bus or train since they left school (in my case some 32 years ago), sad but typically true
malcolm – Can I ask, what area do you live in, where do you work and is there anything that prevents you from using PT now, is it just the cost or are there other factors?
I really don’t get why they have to close it on a really busy day. some people have to go to work and the roads are closed? then what do we have to do?
watitt, The contractors have decided that they need 36 hours to move the (800 tonne) gantry across to the center viaduct (old/current southbound lane) and move the motorway alignment to the new viaduct. 36 hours is extremely fast for this massive undertaking. Because of the work required both the current and new southbound viaducts must be closed. It is not possible to do this about of work overnight, hence a daylight closure is required.
They have selected the particular date to be on a weekend as it is statistically quieter. This should reduce the impact to commuters etc.
“some people have to go to work and the roads are closed? then what do we have to do?” Only the southbound motorway for a short section where the work is being done will be closed. Detours will be in place etc. You can look at Google maps and decide on your own detour. Expect major delays due to traffic on the detour routes, but if you must drive they will be available. Probably allow an extra 40mins + for your journey (just a guess and what i would do, don’t quote me on this please). The there are going to be extra trains on the rail network. I would personally recommend taking the train to work depending on where it is.