Auckland's worst traffic nightmare: The stretch of road that sees 45,344 vehicles every week

Most Aucklanders know the city's roads are a nightmare, but new data shows exactly where they're busiest and six of the spots are out west.

Great North Rd and Lincoln Rd have the most traffic across seven days, according to traffic count data collected by Auckland Transport.

Auckland's busiest stretch is on Great North Rd, between Lynwood Rd and Aotea Rd, Glen Eden, which sees an average 45,344 vehicles every day.

A stretch of Lincoln Rd, Henderson (between the width change and Paramount Dr) is the second most busy.

Other stretches of those two roads also took out third, fourth and fifth places according to the data, recorded from July 2012 to March 2016.

The West Auckland hot spots were followed by major eastern roads such as Te Irirangi Drive, Botany Rd, East Tamaki Drive, Mt Wellington Highway and Green Lane East.

But it doesn't stop there. New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) data shows the nation's five busiest stretches of state highway are all in the country's most populous city.

The data, on more than 100 monitored sites nationwide, shows State Highway 1 at Westhaven - the foot of the Harbour Bridge - is the busiest stretch of highway in the country.

Next is SH1 at Mt Wellington, SH20 at Mangere Bridge, SH16 at Massey and SH1 at Papakura.