Crash at Washdyke, South Canterbury: Detour in place

Update 2.50 pm: SH1 has now reopened at Washdyke

A car rolling and blocking lanes at Washdyke, State Highway 1, South Canterbury, just before 2 pm today, means that Dunedin-bound traffic will be detoured left onto Dominion Road and Seadown Road to get around the crash site.

Northbound traffic will take the reverse route.

Traffic is very heavy on SH1 today with Ed Sheeran/ Dunedin-bound traffic making the journey reasonably slow.

“Please do not take risks or think that by passing the car in front you are making your journey any faster,” says John Keenan, Maintenance Contract Manager for the Transport Agency in South Canterbury.

Two separate crashes at Telegraph Road, Burnham, earlier today also created bottlenecks for southbound traffic just south of Christchurch.

Traffic is slow through all the towns along SH1 in South Canterbury and Otago today. People who do not need to be on State Highway 1 are encouraged to avoid it if possible while the traffic gets to Dunedin for the early evening show.

• This afternoon’s crash is just south of the intersection with Kennels Rd in Washdyke, near Timaru.  
• Both lanes of traffic are blocked and traffic is being diverted by emergency services into Seadown area to the east.

How to stay up to date:

• 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49)
• www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic(external link)
• Twitter NZTA Canterbury/ West Coasthttps://twitter.com/NZTACWC(external link)
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• Journey planner: http://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz(external link)