Auckland's border will officially be opened at 1am tomorrow. Photo / Michael Craig
Aucklanders preparing to leave the city by road tonight can expect the boundary to remain closed until after midnight.
Southbound traffic will be met with closures set to be in place from 10pm to 1am - when the border will officially be removed and traffic allowed through.
Motorists heading into Auckland can also expect delays, with stop/go traffic management in place until at least midnight.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is asking motorists for patience and space to safely dismantle barriers at the boundary checkpoints.
Regional manager operations and maintenance, Jacqui Hori-Hoult, said: "We ask motorists and freight carriers to plan their travel around this."
Hori-Hoult said they were expecting the roads to be "very busy" over the next few days, as people around the country start to reconnect with friends and family over the Christmas and holiday period.
As a result, Waka Kotahi has put a pause on all planned maintenance and capital works involving full road closures on State Highway 1 in Northland, Auckland and Waikato, for the next five days - from tomorrow to 8pm on Sunday.
"In the five days before Christmas last year, more than 200,000 vehicles left Auckland.
"We're anticipating some of this rush to take place earlier this year, which is why Waka Kotahi wants to mitigate disruptions where possible."
Despite that motorists are still advised that delays will be inevitable during this time.
Those Aucklanders set to head south in the early hours of tomorrow morning are told they will be detoured at one point as contractors work to finish off a series of overnight closures on SH1 at Ōhinewai.
That work is expected to be completed by 7am tomorrow, however.
Up to 8.5km of temporary steel barriers will be removed. The barriers were put up to provide a safe work area and protection for construction workers from live traffic.
For travellers bound for Northland, road authorities remind people that they will need to show their Covid-19 vaccination passport or evidence of a negative Covid test to get through.
Police are working alongside local iwi members and groups at two border checkpoints from tomorrow - on SH1 at Uretiti and SH12 Maungaturoto.
The skies will be just as busy over the Christmas period too, as Air New Zealand prepares to welcome Aucklanders back to air travel after more than 120 days.
Tomorrow is gearing up to be a busy day, with 12,000 people booked to travel on 170 flights in and out of our largest city.
Air NZ chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said: "Aucklanders have been putting in the mahi to help keep the rest of the country safe, so we're thrilled to be helping reunite them with friends and whānau from tomorrow onwards."
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