Annual Auckland marathon closes bridge lanes on Sunday morning

The annual Auckland Marathon takes place on Sunday morning and will have an impact on the Northern Motorway and Auckland Harbour Bridge.

The NZ Transport Agency says the two southbound clip-on lanes of the bridge will be closed from 4am to give time for traffic management to be put in place to ensure the safety of the runners,. It’s planned the lanes will be open again by 11:30am.

The marathon starts in Devonport at 6am, joins the motorway corridor at Smales Farm and crosses the Auckland Harbour Bridge before heading out along Tamaki Drive to a turnaround point at St Heliers and returning to the finish line at Victoria Park.

One lane of the Northern Motorway will be closed southbound from Esmonde Rd Interchange to the Onewa road on ramp and two lanes will be closed from there to the bridge. The Onewa Rd southbound on-ramp to the motorway will also be closed.

On the city side of the bridge, the Shelly Beach Rd off-ramp and the Curran St on-ramp will be closed from 4am to 11:30am. The Fanshawe St off-ramp will be closed from 2am until 3pm.

The Northern Busway Bus Only lanes will be closed from Constellation Drive to Onewa interchange, with runners entering the Busway at Smales Farm.

“We will aim to have the motorway lanes re-opened as soon as we can to minimise the impact on traffic but we do encourage people to allow extra time for their journeys on Sunday and avoid the Harbour Bridge if you can during the marathon itself,” says Rua Pani, Manager of the Auckland Transport Operations Centre.

“We’d encourage motorists to use the alternative Western Ring Route, via State Highway 18 and 16 for travel into the city and the Waterview Tunnel and State Highway 20 for southbound journeys.”

“If you are on the road at the same time as marathon participants please take extra care, and keep your eyes on the road.”

There are five different runs that make up the event – the marathon, the half marathon, the 11 kilometre run, the 5km family run and the kids' marathon. About 15,000 people are expected to take part.

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