Traffic

Rush hour commuters leaving Wellington yesterday were delayed by hours after a slip on State Highway 2 closed northbound lanes. Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) had warned drivers to delay or avoid their journey with significant delays in the central city, on SH1 and SH58 from midafternoon. The slip between the Ngauranga interchange and Petone off-ramp caused major delays and a back-up of traffic between Lower Hutt and Wellington until both lanes were reopened at 7pm. Contractors were at the site for a number of hours. Motorists were crawling through central Wellington last night as a result of the delays. One witness said the traffic was impacting State Highway 1 southbound, which was backed up to the top of the Ngauranga Gorge with cars trying to join SH2 southbound near the bottom of the gorge. It took commuter Sophie Jolley half an hour to get from the Terrace off-ramp to Boulcott St. ‘‘I regularly drive this route. Every time something happens, it is like this,’’ she said. The slip, which happened around 3pm, affected peak traffic because of the safety risks involved and the need to get particular equipment to the site, the agency said.