Traffic returns to Auckland roads

Brian from New Lynn

New Zealand's main centres are buzzing for the first time in almost five weeks. About 400,000 people are returning to work today, as the country transitions to alert level 3. Cars returned to Auckland's Southern Motorway, which has been mostly empty during five weeks of level 4 restrictions to eliminate the deadly coronavirus. Timesaver Traffic's Rebecca Apolosi says it's clearly visible on Auckland roads. "Overlooking Spaghetti Junction, I can see plenty of cars coming and going in all directions. "The Southern Motorway is the most active, heading south. Even then, no hold-ups to report. "There's the usual trucks, buses and courier vehicles that have been operating as normal under alert level 4.
"However, there's plenty of tradie vans and utes whizzing past as well this morning." The main commuter roads into Wellington are a bit busier than last week, but the central city is still pretty quiet. "Traffic is a little heavier than it has been under level 4, but the streets are still relatively quiet in the capital." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says people should continue to work from home if they can, but businesses can reopen if they have safe-practice measures in place. Industries like construction, forestry and manufacturing can get back to work, but staff have to make sure they keep 1m between each other, record who they interact with, have good hygiene practices and make sure surfaces are disinfected. Construction workers are injecting a little bit of life back into central Auckland. One construction worker, who asked not to be named, said he's very glad the level 4 lockdown is finally over. "I'm quite excited about it to be honest. It's been a long five weeks, so it would be good to get back into it and into finishing our project. "We sort of made a plan last week on what we're going to do to get back to work. We've implemented that and we should hit the ground running today."
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