Rain and events bring traffic 'to a standstill' in Auckland this afternoon

Wet weather mixed with an events-packed day for Auckland has led to slow and heavy traffic on Auckland's Southern Motorway this afternoon.

A motorist stuck in northbound traffic for an hour and a half said she had seen two minor crashes and a breakdown on her crawl into the city.

"I left Bombay at 1pm and so it took me an hour to get to Takanini and it's taken another half an hour to get from Manukau to the city," she said.

Rainy weather combined with more people than usual heading in to see Ed Sheeran and the cricket meant an unexpectedly long commute.

"The city just came to a standstill."

New Zealand Transport Agency traffic maps showed an average speed of about 27km/h on the Southern Motorway through Ellerslie and again from the Market Rd off ramp to Greenlane about 2.30pm.

Auckland Transport (AT) spokesman James Ireland said traffic in the city was expected to start getting heavy about 4pm.

AT has put out warnings to punters heading to see Ed Sheeran at Mt Smart stadium to allow extra time to get there as roads will be busy and public transport will be packed.

Ireland said AT would be tweeting to alert travellers of any major hold ups from about 4pm.