The Central Motorway Junction or CMJ (best known as Spaghetti Junction and rarely as Central Motorway Intersection), is the intersection of New Zealand State Highways 1 and 16, just south of the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand. A multilevel structure (three traffic levels crossing above each other in several locations), it has been described as a "fiendishly complicated, multi-layered puzzle of concrete, steel and asphalt". Carrying around 200,000 vehicles a day, it is one of the busiest stretches of road in New Zealand.
The central motorway junction forms the intersection between the three major motorways of Auckland: The Auckland Northern Motorway (SH1), the Auckland Southern Motorway (SH1), and the Northwest Motorway (SH16), and also offers several off-ramps for access from these motorways to the city centre. It is principally located in a series of gullies and artificial cuttings around the CBD, and its construction 1960-1970s removed whole neighbourhoods.
It has somewhat of a hybrid function, falling between a typical ‘X’ interchange and ring road around the city centre. However all linkages are direct and there is no separate ring road as such. The interchange and associated structures encircles the Auckland CBD on three sides, the Auckland waterfront to the north forming the fourth 'border' of central Auckland.
Read more about Central Motorway Junction: History, Connections, Cycle Path
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