Lockdown slashes traffic flows in main centres

Daily traffic counts during the COVID-19 shutdown have fallen dramatically, figures released by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) show.

For the week ending midnight last Friday April 3, the agency says traffic flow monitoring showed major decreases at key sites on state highways in all main centres.

Wellington led the way with an 81.7% decrease compared to last year; compared to the previous week there was a 65.9% drop in light traffic and a 74.6% drop for heavy traffic.

In Auckland traffic was down 75.9% year-on-year. The week-on-week drops were 66.2% for light traffic and a 50% for heavy traffic.

Christchurch figures were 77.2%; 60.6%, and a 61.2%.

In Hamilton the drops were: 74.3%; 62.5%, and 47.8%.

Dunedin figures were: 80.6%; 63.9%, and 54.5%.

The NZTA will update the figures weekly during the COVID-19 shutdown.