Another motorist told Newstalk ZB tar was being pulled off the road like mozzarella cheese.
"I saw a brand new Holden plastered up the side where it had flicked off the tyres."
NZ Transport Agency System Manager Wayne Oldfield said fresh bitumen seal was laid on the road this week and in the hot weather conditions with slow moving vehicles, the new surface had become sticky.
"It's also quite noisy to drive over," Oldfield said.
"We're aware of the situation and we've sent a water truck to cool the road.
"We ask motorists to slow down and be patient."
At 3pm traffic was already building on the Southern Motorway particularly through Otara and Manukau.
A four car pile up had blocked the right southbound lane near the Gillies Ave off-ramp about thirty minutes prior slowing traffic further.
By 6pm southbound traffic on the South Western Motorway was heavily congested.
According to the NZTA journey planner at 6pm, travelling from Auckland to Hamilton on SH1 would take two hours and 17 minutes instead of the usual one hour and 35 minutes.
Trains resumed service early this afternoon after morning commuters faced a stalled train service due to a signalling fault about 7am.
"We're hugely apologetic about the disruption caused to Auckland commuters by this morning's fault," KiwiRail Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle said.
"We know it's important to have a reliable transport system and no one wants to see trains stop in the morning peak," Moyle said.
"This was a very unusual event as not only was there a fault in our main signal operating system, but the backup also failed and we have had to revert to a third alternative."
Trains are now operating every 20 minutes on the Southern, Eastern and Western Lines.
The Onehunga Line is running as normal and rail replacement buses will continue to operate during the afternoon peak.
