Easing congestion on Accent Drive

Accent Drive is a key link between East Tāmaki Road, Te Irirangi Drive and Chapel Road. 

Up to 17,000 vehicles use the road each weekday. It is also part of Auckland’s Peak Transit Network, serving key bus routes that connect residential areas to commercial and industrial employment zones. Reliable travel times on this busy road are critical to improving public transport and making it a more attractive option.

Currently, Accent Drive faces several issues:

• daily congestion, particularly heading south towards Chapel Road in the afternoon
• a bottleneck at Te Irirangi Drive where the road widens to two lanes at the intersection but narrows back to one lane
• variable travel times that impact freight efficiency and bus reliability.

We are proposing:

• creating an additional southbound lane along Accent Drive, from East Tamaki Road to Chapel Road, by narrowing parts of the existing median.
• introducing an afternoon clearway along the southbound lane to ease congestion and improve traffic flow. The clearway will operate from 3pm to 7pm on weekdays, with on-street parking available outside those hours.
• adding in broken yellow lines in some parts to ensure safety for those accessing side roads and improve visibility during busy times.

These changes will be delivered without major infrastructure works, making better use of the road space we already have.