The Southern Links project involves approximately 21km of new state highway, three new river crossings and 11km of new urban arterial roads inside Hamilton, with a budgeted costing of about $600,000,000. This is about $190,000,000 less than the Hamilton Bypass. However, neither the Transport Agency nor the Hamilton City Council has any funding set aside for the design or construction.
When constructed, the Southern Links project will reduce congestion on SH1 and SH3. Should it not be built, this Southern Links traffic flows 2041 poster lets us know that along Kahikatea drive we can expect about a 55% increase over existing traffic levels to 39,200 vehicles per day (vpd). This level is higher than on any existing roads in Hamilton. The closest we have to this is on Cambridge Rd at 37,742 vpd in 2006.
On SH3, just 285m south of Dixon Road, the prediction is for a 50% increase to 19,500 vpd for the year 2041, which is similar to existing daily traffic flows using the Fairfield bridge or the Massey Street rail bridge.
Lastly, the table below shows that the historical traffic changes along these two roads?
| SH1 Kahikatea Dr rail crossing | ||||||||||
| AADT | 21,926 | 22,601 | 22,827 | 22,651 | 22,984 | 22,727 | 23,885 | 22,899 | 21,047 | 22,365 |
| SH3 Ohaupo Rd – 285m Sth of Dixons Rd | ||||||||||
| AADT | 13,010 | 12,910 | 13,360 | 13,813 | 12,830 | 12,610 | 13,399 | 12,767 | 13,321 | 12,853 |
| Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) – Traffic counts from NZTA state highway traffic volumes