Alternative route north urged as traffic builds up

Police today were encouraging people to use State Highway 16 when heading north from Auckland after reports that State Highway One traffic between Orewa and Silverdale was at a standstill.

An Orewa police spokesman said around midday that it was taking up to 1.5 hours to get through Orewa due to the large number of people heading north for the Christmas holidays.

They said the queue lasted for at least 6km.

There had been reports that people had been trying to reverse on the motorway because of the delays and said this sort of behaviour could cause a crash.

Yesterday, traffic was flowing freely through that area. Police said they hoped that the traffic congestion would ease after today for travellers heading north.

- Herald staff