Drivers are calling for better communication from the New Zealand Transport Agency after getting stuck on Dunedin's Northern Motorway.
The agency says it does its best to keep drivers informed, but will review how it managed the highway in yesterday morning's snow. Waitati woman Karina Buchanan said she set out for work about 7.30am, but traffic was backed up from ''around Sullivans Dam to Pigeon Flat''.
She said the NZTA had posted a message on its website saying ''expect delays''.
''But they didn't post anything saying how bad the traffic was. It was snowing pretty heavily. I had no idea, and I'm sure others didn't either, that it would be that backed up.
''People were getting a bit upset and trying to overtake on the wrong side of the road.''
Ms Buchanan said she waited for 90 minutes before turning back to Waitati.
She tried the motorway again about an hour later and eventually got to work in Dunedin about 10.30am.
''It's really not good enough from the NZTA.
''I emailed and called them but they never updated their site. They told me that they had been tweeting updates - well I don't have Twitter and I'm sure 80% of the people in traffic didn't either.''
Sue Hill, from Waikouaiti, copied the ODT into a letter sent to NZTA expressing her anger.
''Why was this allowed to happen again? Are we to expect another winter like the last one? Hundreds of people travel that motorway daily and deserve to have clear information about the state of the road.''
NZTA journey manager Graeme Hall said the problems were compounded when a truck and trailer jack-knifed south of Pigeon Flat just before 8am.
Until this happened, ''traffic was flowing reasonable well given ... the weather conditions were constantly changing, making this job very challenging and causing delays that upset people's travel plans - and we apologise.''
NZTA endeavoured to keep road users informed as conditions changed, he said MetService meteorologist Nick Zacher said yesterday the cold snap was due to fade over the next few days but it would still be ''chilly'' overnight.
He said all severe weather warnings for the Otago region had been lifted.
A Dunedin City Council spokesman said kerbside collection services were cancelled yesterday because of the weather and would be deferred to Saturday morning.
The spokesman said all Dunedin roads closed on Monday night were reopened yesterday morning.
