Transit to close SH1 south of Whangarei for three hours

Transit New Zealand has announced that it will be closing a two kilometre section of State Highway 1 to all traffic from 10.00am to 11.30am and to northbound traffic only from 11.30am till 1.00pm on Friday 16 May 2003.

The closure is to allow the NZ Police to carry out an accident investigation on the state highway following the fatal crash on Monday night.12 May 2003

During the closure, a detour will be in operation via Loop Road.

Transit Regional Asset Manager, Hilton Netterville, says that the detour route, via Loop Road has a narrow sealed width and two single lane bridges, which could lead to queuing and delays. The anticipated queue lengths are not known at this stage.

For this reason, he recommends an alterative route via SH12 and SH14. “While it is considerably longer, it should be a lot less frustrating and motorists wanting to guarantee their travel times are advised to use the alternate route and should allow an additional 45minutes for their trip times,” he says.

The detour and alternate routes will be signposted in both directions.

Motorists travelling north should leave SH1 and move onto SH12 at the bottom of the Brynderwyn hills and then, in Dargaville, move onto SH14 to Whangarei. Travelling south, motorists should switch from SH1 to SH14 in Whangarei and then onto SH12 to the Brynderwyns where they will rejoin SH1.

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