Car Engulfed in Flames Blocks Southern Motorway as Easter Travellers Head Home
A car burst into flames on Auckland’s Southern Motorway on Easter Monday evening, bringing northbound traffic to a standstill as thousands of holidaymakers tried to make their way back into the city after the long weekend.
Police were called to the fire between the Ramarama on-ramp and the Great South Road off-ramp at about 7.20pm. One northbound lane was closed while emergency services dealt with the blaze, causing significant disruption to traffic flow between Ramarama and Drury at one of the worst possible times.
Witnesses travelling southbound on the opposite side of the motorway described a dramatic scene. The vehicle was fully engulfed in flames with thick black smoke billowing across the road. One motorist who passed the scene moments after it began said the first police car arrived travelling the wrong way up the motorway to reach the burning vehicle, with no other way to get there quickly given the gridlocked northbound lanes.
Police confirmed nobody was injured in the incident. Enquiries are being made into the cause of the fire.
The timing could not have been worse for returning Easter travellers. Easter Monday is traditionally one of the busiest days on Auckland’s motorway network as families head home from holidays in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Coromandel. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi had warned motorists to expect heavy northbound traffic on SH1 throughout the afternoon and evening, with the busiest period predicted between late afternoon and 9pm.
The Ramarama to Drury stretch of the Southern Motorway is already a notorious bottleneck, even on ordinary days. The section narrows and merges as it approaches the growing Drury interchange, where massive residential development has added thousands of extra vehicle movements in recent years. On a public holiday evening with peak return traffic, a single blocked lane was enough to create queues stretching back for kilometres.
It was the second car fire on the Southern Motorway in a single day. Earlier that morning, just after 11.10am, a separate vehicle caught fire near the Papakura on-ramp. Fire and Emergency New Zealand said the car was “well involved” in flames when crews arrived, and two fire trucks attended the blaze. No one was inside that vehicle, which was parked on the motorway shoulder.
Two car fires on the same stretch of motorway on the same day is unusual, and while there is no suggestion the incidents are connected, the coincidence will raise questions about vehicle safety and the age of cars on New Zealand roads. New Zealand has one of the oldest vehicle fleets in the developed world, with an average age of just over 15 years. Older vehicles are more prone to mechanical failures that can lead to engine fires, particularly on long highway drives in warm weather.
The lane was reopened later on Monday evening after the vehicle was cleared and the road surface inspected for damage.
Were you caught in the traffic? Did you see the fire? Let us know in the comments below.