Traffic is bumper to bumper on the northern motorway between Orewa and Warkworth. Photo / Supplied
Holidaymakers heading north of Auckland are facing massive delays with bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling at snail's pace.
According to the NZ Transport Agency's Journey Planner, about 4pm it was taking motorists nearly two hours to travel from Auckland CBD to Wellsford on State Highway 1, nearly an hour more than the usual time.
Traffic was particularly heavy about the SH1 Northern Gateway Toll Gantry to SH1 Northern Gateway Johnstones Hill and through the tunnels.
Motorists have taken to social media to warn others about the heavy delays.
"Travelling north through the tunnels? Don't," one person said.
"Bumper-to-bumper traffic from before the Waiwera cut-out right up to the Puhoi/Warkworth intersection," another said.
Some believed the extra-heavy traffic could be in part due to people heading to the Hidden Valley Festival in Matakana today.
Traffic on other highways leaving Auckland was not as busy. NZTA was reporting about a 30-minute delay on travel times to both Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.
Meanwhile, motorists heading north from Wellington on SH1 were also facing major delays.
The NZTA said the journey from Wellington to Levin was taking one hour and 48 minutes, compared with the usual one hour and nine minutes.
The offenders took off in a stolen vehicle with cigarettes, cash and other items.