Crash stopped more than traffic
Businesses are still feeling the impact of Friday’s mammoth 17-hour closure of State Highway 1, as they scramble to pull back lost time and fill late deliveries.
Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi said the incident had once again raised concerns about the ‘‘fragility’’ of the main trunk route, particularly in the event of a major natural disaster.
A chemical-laden Mainfreight truck crashed north of Wellington at 3.45am on Friday, closing the highway in both directions and causing headaches for motorists and truckies.
A long line of traffic snaked away from the crash scene as Fire and Emergency specialists clambered to mop up the spill before the Labour Day long weekend.
Mail services were also affected, with NZ Post, Fastway Couriers and UPS warning that items could be delayed.
Shannon Bulk Haulage owner Janelle Gattsche said her company had two trucks stuck in the jam, resulting in a loss of income.
‘‘We were probably quite lucky it was on a Friday, because it just meant they could do those deliveries the next day. If it had been in the middle of the week, we would have lost out.’’
Truck driver Hayden Locke, who was stuck in Friday’s gridlock for more than six hours, said the impact of missed deliveries over the long weekend meant some businesses might not get their goods until tomorrow.
‘‘I had potting mix and compost. It’s spring. Everyone’s screaming out for the stuff.’’
South Island businesses would also have been affected, with drivers missing their ferries across Cook Strait.
‘‘While most of our sailings on Friday and Saturday were already heavily booked because of Labour Day weekend, we were able to move a substantial number of delayed customers overnight Friday, with the remaining backlog cleared by Saturday evening,’’ InterIslander spokesman Mark Thompson said.
Kilbirnie Countdown had signs saying it had run out of milk. Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy went into New World Silverstream on Saturday, and ‘‘they had big gaps in the butchery, and a sign said [it was] due to no deliveries from the north’’, he said.
While Wellington Pak ’n Save, Four Square and New World supermarkets were not affected, a Foodstuffs spokesperson described the incident as unfortunate. ‘‘There are unique transport vulnerabilities in the region, and the Transmission Gully project will certainly relieve some of that pressure in the future.’’
Faafoi said there had been concern ‘‘for some time’’ about the fragility of SH1, and the opening of the Transmission Gully roading project in 2020 ‘‘will give us another vital transport link into the region’’.
‘‘As to the incident . . . I think the emergency services deserve praise,’’ he said.
The New Zealand Transport Agency has warned holidaymakers using the highway through Kapiti into Wellington to expect traffic to be heaviest between 1pm and 6pm today.