Traffic is now starting to flow again on State Highway 1 north of Wellington, after a crash and breakdown on the same stretch at Paekakariki today.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
A truck and car crashed at Paekakariki during rush hour this morning leaving wreckage on the road and one injured person flown to hospital. Police were called to the scene about 6.30am.
Another car later broke down on the same stretch of road and the two incidents meant traffic had been at a standstill or moving very slowly for several hours.
Traffic was banked-up for about 10km, it was at a standstill on parts of the Kāpiti Coast and motorists were experiencing up to 40-minute delays.
Natasha, a worker at Paekakariki-based restaurant Fisherman's Table, said her usual 10-minute trip to work took 45 minutes this morning and some hungry delayed motorists had been pulling over for food.
Around midday, Transport Agency spokesperson Mark Owen said traffic should be back to normal by early afternoon.
"[Traffic] is flowing through the crash scene ... it's flowing sort of north of the crash scene. But, again, because the queue is quite significant, there's still delays down near Raumati. If people can avoid that area for the next hour or so, just until that queue clears."
Motorists posted their frustration on social media, with one woman saying cars were reversing off the Kāpiti on-ramp to try and return home.
It follows a fatal truck crash in Taranaki shortly before 4am today.