NZ Transport Agency senior project manager Phil Dowsett said "running time" from the Peninsula Rd intersection to the Queenstown Airport roundabout is now "less than two and a-half minutes".
The $22million bridge opened last Sunday, enabling traffic to travel in both directions. Queenstown-bound traffic travels on the old Kawarau Falls bridge.
Mr Dowsett anticipated that at peak times, more than 11,000 vehicles per day would use the new bridge.
"It has been delightful to see how freely the traffic flows with this present arrangement, even though there is a temporary 50kmh speed limit because it is still a construction site ...
"It is expected this arrangement will continue to work well even with the usual spike in traffic numbers over New Year."
From January 8 the old bridge will be closed and single-lane traffic will be controlled with traffic signals.
The pedestrian and cycle underpass of the highway will be extended and services and utilities put in place before the carriageway is constructed above.
