Quartet of crashes leads to Auckland travel delays

A quartet of crashes in Auckland has left a backlog of traffic along the city's highways this morning.

Motorists travelling along the motorway network will need to practice a bit of patience as congestion clears.

An increase in traffic is also expected this morning as the first day of the school term sees more parents and kids hitting the roads.

The NZ Transport Agency has tweeted that three crashes on the Northern and Southwestern motorways and in Upper Harbour have all been cleared.

But it urged motorists to "please be patient" and drive safely this morning.

The first crash, about 7am on the Northern Motorway, blocked the right southbound lane at Oteha Valley Road off-ramp.

Another around the same time, at Upper Harbour, another crash blocked the right lane of the eastbound off-ramp heading towards Albany.

And later, around 7.30am, a multi-vehicle crash blocked the northbound lanes near Lambie Dr exit on the Southwestern.

There was also a fourth crash on the Southern motorway that saw the right lane, citybound, at Greenlane blocked.