Operators of HPMV vehicles on the arterial Auckland motorway network will welcome news that they will now be able to travel on SH20 and through the Waterview Tunnel in the event of an emergency or road closure.

Previously, particularly at night, most operators dropped their loads down to standard operating weights or had to be parked up until the motorway was reopened.

Keith McGuire, Road Transport Association area executive, says he, together with Christopher Glanfield and Zhongyi Li at Auckland Transport and Andrew Morrison at Opus, had been working to allow for the free movement of HPMV vehicles on the main arterial Auckland motorway network.

“We secured the initial section of SH1 through to the CBD in June of this year. This latest addendum completes the main State Highway network throughout the Auckland region, including SH20 and the new Waterview Tunnel. This also allows HPMVs to traverse between SH1 and SH20 to navigate around any major incident closures, etc.”

This allows operators who already hold HPMV permits for the Auckland region to now (by way of this addendum) operate on the specified detour routes off the State Highway network. McGuire says operators need to be aware the permits are only valid when used with an existing HPMV permit and must only be used for motorway closures for emergency/maintenance, or repair closures on particular routes. The first addendum in June covered SH1 from the CBD to Bombay, while the new one includes that route and also covers SH16, SH18, SH20, SH20A, SH22 and SH1 from North Shore to Puhoi.

If operators have any questions they can send those via email to TruckConsult@at.govt.nz or contact the team by phone at 09-355-3553.