Auckland worst in class

It will come as no comfort to Auckland drivers returning to work after holidays that the roads in the City of Sails are as tediously clogged as they remember.

According to the Austroads Congestion and Reliability Review, Auckland is a poor performer for its size. The report compared levels of congestion and travel time volatility between Auckland, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide - all similarly sized cities - along with some slightly smaller North American counterparts. Out of that group, Auckland performed worst across ‘‘most measures’’.

These included the highest travel time delay, morning and afternoon peak reliability.

With an average speed of

77.6kmh, Auckland had the slowest moving motorway flow. Adelaide’s was fastest, with vehicles travelling on average at 86.2kmh.

Canada’s capital Ottawa, however, saw its commuters moving at an illegally speedy - by Kiwi standards - 104.4kmh.

St Lukes Rd was Auckland’s most sluggish main thoroughfare - with cars crawling along at an average 22kmh. The Northern Gateway toll road was deemed our zippiest with average speeds of 98kmh.

Aucklanders were also the most delayed peak hour commuters out of the group. Drivers in the larger cities of Melbourne and Sydney were significantly worse-off, however.