Auckland holiday traffic: Northbound chokepoint causes delays after earlier southbound congestion

Holiday traffic is ramping up ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Photo / Supplied

Traffic is building up northbound as holidaymakers head off for New Year’s celebrations, after key routes to popular holiday hotspots started to clog southbound earlier today.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) advised motorists to plan ahead and allow extra time when travelling this afternoon, as several chokepoints along the holiday highway had queues of gridlocked traffic.

NZTA advised northbound travellers to take extra care, as SH1 from Wayby to Te Hana currently has heavy congestion.

Earlier this afternoon, NZTA warned of significant delays for holidaymakers travelling southbound on SH1 between Takanini and Drury.

Holiday traffic was also causing delays southbound on SH1 in Waikato between Hamilton and Tīrau.

As of 3pm, much of the southbound traffic build-up was starting to lessen.

A lengthy traffic queue on the Southern Motorway. Image / NZTA

Earlier this afternoon, the NZTA traffic dashboard indicated the route from Bombay to Auckland City on SH1 would take 14 minutes longer than usual.

As of 3pm, the route is only delayed by five minutes.

The route from Auckland City to Bombay via SH1, SH20, and SH16 was initially expected to take about 20 minutes longer than usual. However, as traffic continues to ease, the delay has reduced to 11 minutes.

The NZTA holiday journey planner predicted that the traffic southbound on SH1 from Manukau to Bombay will remain busy until 4.30pm.

Despite the delays and crashes typical during the holiday period, New Zealand’s annual road toll is trending lower, with 2025 on track to be among the lowest totals in decades.

As of this morning – with two days left of the year – the provisional toll sat at 269; if it remains below 272, it would be the second-lowest annual total since 1951.

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