- By Simeon Brown, Member of Parliament for Pakuranga
Recently it was announced the Reeves Road Flyover will be delivered five months ahead of schedule, with a partial opening of citybound lanes on October 1, and a full opening on October 27, Labour Day.
This is fantastic news for the people of Pakuranga and the wider east Auckland area, with the Reeves Road Flyover set to ease traffic congestion and improve travel times for motorists.
This project has been in the works for decades and the community has had to fight for it every step of the way.
With the Eastern Busway to Botany set to be delivered in 2027, the entire project is ahead of schedule and under budget, a fantastic achievement for the thousands of people involved.
While this is great news, there’s still some pain and disruption to come as major works soon begin to complete the last stages of the Flyover.
That’s why I recently hosted a public meeting alongside officials from the Eastern Busway Alliance (EBA), who are responsible for delivering the Flyover, to discuss the work needed.
This primarily involves connecting the Flyover to Pakuranga Road, with about five weeks of 24/7 work planned that will cause major disruption to local traffic.
This will include reduced lanes on Pakuranga Road and changing lane layouts during construction.
These works will begin on September 20, with the date deliberately chosen to coincide with the start of the school holidays so the most disruptive work can be done with reduced traffic.
The first phase of this work will take place from September 20-27 and will involve reducing the total number of lanes on Pakuranga Road to four, with tidal flow layouts used to prioritise peak traffic.
This means in the morning peak, there will be three lanes heading towards Panmure, and only one lane towards Howick, with the opposite being true in the evening peak.
There will then be three further phases of work with different lane layouts, from October 1-8, when the Flyover will open in one direction for citybound traffic, October 9-12, and October 13-26, with the Flyover opening in full from October 27.
To see detailed graphics of the construction phases and their associated lane layouts, visit the Eastern Busway website at www.easternbusway.nz.
My office will work closely with the Eastern Busway team to address any issues as they arise.
