Auckland motorway stalls after peak-hour pile-up

Traffic city bound on the Northwestern Motorway at a stand still after a crash near Te Atatu. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Motorists left waiting on the road for hours as crash site cleared

A six-vehicle crash on Auckland's Northwestern Motorway during peak-hour caused havoc for drivers yesterday.

The nose-to-tail crash, which occurred just before 6pm in the citybound lanes near the Te Atatu Rd on-ramp, caused traffic to come to a standstill -- and some motorists were left waiting on the road for several hours.

The crash also caused delays for traffic moving in the other direction.

West Harbour resident Sherree Laurent, who was on her way home from Mt Wellington, spent nearly two hours on the motorway.

"[Around Te Atatu] there were people sitting on their roofs, doors open and wandering around.

"They'd obviously been there for a while when I came past around 7.10pm," she said.

Ms Laurent believed traffic in the westbound lanes had been held up due to "lots of rubber-necking". The drive home normally took about 50 minutes, she said.

Another motorist said traffic was backed up to Westgate Shopping Centre on the citybound side, and to the city on the other.

Police northern communications shift inspector Willie Taylor said one man from the crash was taken to Waitakere Hospital in a critical but stable condition.

Fire Service staff, who were at the scene for about 30 minutes, had to cut the man from his vehicle, Mr Taylor said.

It took about an hour to clear the motorway of the wreckage and open all the lanes.

"For a period of time we had to close the lanes completely so we could clear [the wreckage] and also get the injured party out of the vehicle," Mr Taylor said.

"You can't have traffic moving around you when that's happening -- safety has to be secure for people on site."

It took between 30 minutes and an hour to clear the tailback.

"It just has compounding actions on on-ramps," Mr Taylor said of the accident. "[Crashes] any time between 4.30pm and 6.30pm on major arterial routes around Auckland is the wrong time."

Delays on the westbound lanes appeared to be caused by other motorists slowing down to view the wreckage, he said.

Road signs on the citybound lanes had been put up to warn motorists to expect delays because of the crash.

The New Zealand Transport Agency said that at the height of congestion, traffic had been backed up about 7km to Hobsonville.

"That created delays and problems on local roads in the area," said spokeswoman Jan McCarthy. "The motorway was closed on and off throughout the incident as they cut the person from the vehicle and towtrucks came in. [Police] maintained access when they could."

Earlier, there had been a breakdown at the westbound off ramp at Te Atatu Rd which caused delays. About 4pm, NZTA tweeted that it was expecting a "traffic hangover".