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Traffic hold-ups worst ever seen
BY KATIE TODD
KATIE.T@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
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Locals are querying the district’s capacity to handle heavy traffic after “shocking” hold-ups on Monday. As vehicles hit the road home from Warbirds over Wanaka, Ed Sheeran’s Dunedin concerts and other Easter getaways, travellers reported four-hour journeys from Timaru to Ashburton, and kilometre long queues in the northbound lane at Hinds throughout Monday afternoon and evening.
Traffic was seen crawling at less than 10km/h in Rakaia, Tinwald and Hinds throughout the afternoon and by 6pm, NZTA issued a congestion warning. They said there was heavy traffic between Hinds and Ashburton on SH1 and urged drivers to keep driving safely despite the inconvenience of the delays. At 8.30 they advised the roads around Hinds had mostly cleared, but the road through Rakaia was still congested. Prior to the weekend, NZTA warned up to 21,000 extra cars would have been
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using State Highway 1 on the weekend due to Ed Sheeran’s concerts alone. Now locals have taken to social media to express concern around the capacity of the roads to handle other events in the future – mooting ideas such as four- lane roads, rail services, town bypasses, and better traffic management.
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