The lanes have since reopened but there are still major delays.
According to Google Maps, traffic is heavy back to the Upper Harbour Highway on-ramp.
Meanwhile, a breakdown on the Southern Motorway caused another snarl-up for city-bound traffic.
NZTA said at 7.30am a vehicle was blocking the left northbound lane after the Khyber Pass Rd off-ramp. It was cleared by 7.35am.
According to NZTA traffic dashboard, the time for Helensville to the city on the Northwestern has increased by more than 90 minutes, from 30 minutes to 2 hours and 13 minutes.
The time from Manukau to Albany on the Southern Motorway has also increased significantly, from 30 minutes to an hour.
Earlier, a crash blocked the middle lane northbound after the Princes St off-ramp on the Southern Motorway.
While the crash has been cleared, NZTA still warned of residual delays.
Two similar crashes blocked two middle city-bound lanes just ahead of the St Lukes ramps on Monday.
The incidents come as the city gets into “March Madness”, the busiest time of year across Auckland’s transport network, with schools, universities and workplaces all back from summer breaks.
Auckland Transport’s group manager of public transport operations Rachel Cara said AT has been planning for the extra demand.
“We have added additional services, including school buses, on routes we know will be busiest, meaning we can carry an extra 2700 people on our public transport services across the day,” Cara said.
“Last year we saw close to 400,000 trips taken on public transport in a single day and we’re expecting to see similar numbers again this year.
“It will be particularly busy at peak times, which are weekdays between 7am-9am and 3pm-6pm.”
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