It has been a slow trip for some holiday-makers fleeing the main centres on State Highway 1 today.
UPDATE 4:20PM
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Wellington (@WakaKotahiWgtn) December 23, 2020
Traffic remains HEAVY across the Wellington network. Particularly heavy patches on #SH1 are in both directions approaching Ōtaki, northbound between Mana & Pukerua Bay & northbound approaching Peka Peka. On #SH2, a queue remains at the Hutt Rd on-ramp. ^EW pic.twitter.com/Dn4hBk9ClI
Drivers earlier today were experiencing delays of up to an hour heading northbound from Wellington, due to heavy traffic and a crash near Ōtaki.
Nobody was injured and the road is now clear, however people should delay their trips if they do not need to travel urgently, police said.
People travelling southbound were also being held up.
Waka Kotahi / Transport Agency (NZTA) said the biggest queues north of Wellington were from Johnsonville to Churton Park, through Pukerua Bay and from Waikanae Beach to Ōtaki.
It was not until 7.25pm that NZTA reported traffic had eased across the Wellington network.
FINAL UPDATE 7:25PM
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Wellington (@WakaKotahiWgtn) December 23, 2020
Traffic has now EASED across the Wellington network. Thank you all for your patience today. ^EW pic.twitter.com/vD2EW3vfot
Wellington Transport systems manager Mark Owen urged people to plan ahead, be patient and check travel times on Waka Kotahi's website this holidays.
"If you are travelling this afternoon please allow extra time for your travel because we already have a significant queue built up there. Tomorrow, again, there may be a lot more people leaving town," he said.
North of Auckland, there was congestion on State Highway 1 around Warkworth and Wellsford.
Waka Kotahi said people could expect trips to Northland to take about 20 minutes longer than usual, although Auckland traffic operations centre manager Rua Pani said it was in line with expectations.
"Our northbound journeys are always busy at this time of year," she said.
"The key thing people need to think about is drive to the conditions and watch your speed. Our incident response crews would like nothing better than to not meet people or their families this holiday period."
The busiest days on the country's highway network are yet to come, with the days after Christmas expected to be busy from mid-morning to late afternoon, especially on State Highway 1 south of Auckland.
Owen said the peaks were usually seen on Boxing Day, New Year's Day and the few days following.
Drivers wanting to avoid the worst traffic could check the Transport Agency's online maps, which uses data from previous years to calculate the busiest routes and times.
