Heavy traffic on State Highway 2 and Hutt Rd at Dowse interchange at 5.40pm last week. Photo: Phil Pennington/RNZ
Roadworks across Lower Hutt are testing commuters' patience with motorists venting their frustration about gridlock and long delays.
But others say the problems are worth bearing for the improvements the work will bring.
The works are linked to Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi, formerly known as RiverLink, which got underway in November last year - the same month Hutt City Council's road maintenance season began.
The $1.5 billion project will include flood protection and river restoration work, urban revitalisation, and improvement to road and rail infrastructure, as well as new cycleways and pathways. It is not expected to be completed until some time in 2031.
But multiple people have complained to RNZ and online that in recent weeks there's been a marked increase in delays and heavy congestion - extending beyond peak times - around the already busy choke point.
There have been reports that the traffic sometimes backs up the off-ramps and causes delays on the motorway.
Some people also raised fears that it could get worse with the start of the school year.
"It's been hōhā," Hutt Central resident Heather Maletino told RNZ.
She said it has tripled her travel time to her daughter's day care in Petone.
It used to take about 20 minutes for the 3km journey, but it can now take upwards of an hour, leaving her facing the question of whether to change daycare.
"It does really affect you if you're having to put that much time in day-to-day just to drive down the road."
Korokoro resident Megan O'Sullivan is facing a far longer commute to her workplace in Epuni - around 8km east.
She also felt that there was too much happening at once.
"You hit one set of roadworks, and then there's another, and then it's another, and it's like, oh my gosh, this is crazy," she said.
Another resident, Rex Widerstrom, concurred.
"It just seems to indicate that they really don't care about the amount of fuss that they're going to cause for commuters," he said.
"I know some of it is unavoidable, but it could be done a lot better."
In a statement, Hutt City Council's economy and development director Jon Kingsbury said disruption was inevitable with such a major project.
He said there had been extensive work done on traffic management, which would continue.
"While the programme will continue until 2031, the impacts on traffic will change as we move through different stages of construction."
Kingsbury said the work was first signalled in October last year while information about Ewen Bridge had been shared since December.
"Project partners communicated in multiple ways, through newsletters, mail drops, signage, media articles and updates on the programme website. Local businesses are being engaged with separately, particularly where access to the central city may be impacted."
The Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi programme is complex, Kingsbury added, with many moving parts.
"The enabling works currently underway by Wellington Electricity in the city centre are to shift the electricity cables out of the river corridor to enable the construction on main elements of the programme to begin."
Petone resident Richelle Okada said despite the longer commute, it would all be worth it once the City Link pedestrian bridge over Hutt River opened in 2029.
She owns the central Hutt cafe Neko Ngeru on High Street.
"One of the main reasons we bought the building was... the hope that they would put that bridge over," she said.
"And finding out that, yes, it's actually going ahead has - for me, personally - taken a lot of the sting, and the edge off of all the inconveniences."
Once the dust settled, Okada said, the disruption would have helped reshape Lower Hutt for the better.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
