MEDIA RELEASE

12 April 2017

Plan ahead, take extra care on the roads and avoid travel to weather affected areas

The NZ Transport Agency and Auckland Transport are advising all road users to take extra care, check road conditions before travelling, consider delaying travel and avoid heading to weather affected areas tomorrow.

The worst of the forecast bad weather is expected to impact on the Auckland and Northland region from about midday tomorrow and is expected to add to the already heavy Easter weekend traffic.

Heavy rainfall and strong winds means there may be road closures and restrictions put in place and people need to check conditions before they travel and if possible avoid travelling in some areas.

“We’re urging drivers to plan ahead and check road and driving conditions before you leave home this weekend and that might mean delaying your travel, using alternative routes or even not travelling at all,” says the Transport Agency’s Auckland and Northland Highway Manager.

Contractors have been preparing for the severe weather by checking all flood prone areas and having extra staff on standby.

“Teams based at the Transport Operation Centre will also be monitoring traffic flows and incidents across the upper North Island’s road network throughout the holiday period to manage these and reduce the impact on customers as much as possible.”

Heading out of Auckland the motorways are expected to be very busy both north and southbound from about lunchtime on Thursday but the weather might mean people change their minds about when to travel and that could mean the usual peak periods change.

“That’s why we’d encourage everyone to make use of our comprehensive travel information which has the very latest updates on road conditions, closures and traffic congestion.”

Both Transport agencies are also encouraging motorists to take extra care if they are out and about on the roads during bad weather.

“Motorists need to drive to the conditions and be aware of possible flooding particularly in the rural areas north of Auckland and in the Clevedon area,” says Auckland Transport’s Chief Transport Operations Officer Andrew Allen.

“There is still some clean-up work going on from the series of storms over the past month so watch for flooding, slips and even rocks on some isolated roads.”

The following roads are still closed: Great North Rd/Clark St, New Lynn, East Coast Rd, Clevedon, Kawakawa Bay Coast Rd – residents and emergency vehicles only, Bethells Beach Rd, Franklin Rd, Pukekohe.

Both agencies say wet, windy weather can also make driving conditions more dangerous and are urging motorists to take extra care. This includes increase following distances, reducing your speed, switching your headlights on and making sure everyone is wearing a seatbelt.

Check our traffic and travel pages at www.nzta.govt.nz and www.at.govt.nz or plan ahead by signing up towww.onthemove.govt.nz to get email notifications about road and traffic conditions on the route you plan to travel. Don’t forget to check twitter and facebook for regular updates on delays, incidents and congestion hotspots. More details about the hot spot predictions can be found at www.nzta.govt.nz/hotspots.

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