Motoring South to Wiri

The southern motorway to Wiri in 1955.

Bruce Ringer

The opening of the southern motorway to Wiri in 1955 and its extension to Takanini in 1963.

On 20 December 1955 the second stretch of Auckland’s southern motorway was opened between Mt Wellington and Wiri. There were no official rites to mark the occasion. At the opening ceremony of the Auckland to Kumeu motorway on the same day, the new southern section was simply and unceremoniously declared open as well.

The motorway at the time ended abruptly amongst fields at Redoubt Road. Traffic took a sharp right turn to reach Great South Road. Otahuhu didn’t have an interchange until 1966, nor Otara until 1971. Nonetheless, development of the motorway allowed the urbanisation of the region to proceed. By 1960 Manukau County Council was planning a large regional centre at Wiri (now Manukau City Centre).

Aerial view of the southern motorway, looking north from the Hill Road overbridge, 1964. Photographer, Trevor Penman. (Manukau Research Library, Trevor Penman Collection. MNA II, 3 no. 65)

In May 1963 the motorway reached Takanini. In December 1965 it was extended to Runciman. Commuters stuck in the traffic jams of today wouldn’t believe how empty the lanes were then. In 1965 Manurewa’s new Hillpark subdivision was advertised as a convenient location for busy Auckland executives who didn’t want to spend two hours in their cars each day.

Further information: see Manukau’s Journey.

Publication history: first published in Connexions, no. 86, June 2006, p. 4. Revised for publication on the Manukau Libraries website in September 2009.

Copyright © Manukau Libraries. This text may be freely used for purposes of private study or research and for non-commercial publication providing that the author and Manukau Libraries are duly acknowledged.