TRAFFIC JAM AT ARDMORE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27861, 9 January 1956, Page 8

TRAFFIC JAM AT ARDMORE

CROWDS FOR GRAND PRIX CONGESTION ON ROADS TO COURSE (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. Jan. 8. Thousands of people missed the first motor races at the Ardmore Grand Prix track on Saturday because their cars were diverted on to narrow back roads. A traffic officer at the end of the motorway diverted almost all traffic along Redoubt roau. For the next seven miles there was not a sign of a traffic officer. Cars began piling up, bumper to bumper, as more motorists took the back roads by way of Howick and Clevedon. By the time the first race started, cars were stretching back four miles in a double row, and were almost stationary. Sometimes the Queues of cars were stationary for 10 minutes before jerking forward 50 or 60 yards. By 10 a.m., and only a mile from the track, cars moved half t. mile in 40 minutes. Mr R. M. Grierson, president of the Auckland International Grand Prix, went up in a helicopter with the clerk the course (Mr H. Garden) and saw the clogged back roads and the clearer main highways.

The helicopter landed near a traffic officer with a car. and Mr Grierson explained the position. Minutes after the officer reached the nearest congested crossroads, the traffic began to move.

Scores of people had camped near the course the night before. From 5 a.m.. a steady trickle of cars was reaching the gates. By the time the gates at the back of the track opened at 8 a.m.. there was a queue threequarters of a mile long. Inside the course, handling of traffic was swift and efficient. Marshals directed cars to parking lots, and there was a minimum of confusion. Spectators’ homeward journeys were slow and at times exasperating, but traffic kept moving. Many cars left after the Grand Prix, and before the last race of the day.