Central Motorway Junction - Connections

Connections

The Central Motorway Junction provides direct motorway-to-motorway links between the following four routes radiating from the city centre:

• Auckland Northern Motorway (SH1) to/from North Shore City via Auckland Harbour Bridge
• Auckland Southern Motorway (SH1) to/from Manukau City and
• Northwest Motorway westbound (SH16) to/from Waitakere City
• Northwest Motorway eastbound (SH16) to/from Ports of Auckland and eastern suburbs

The last of these links (Northwest Motorway eastbound to Auckland Northern Motorway northbound) officially opened on December 19, 2006, marking the full completion of the junction. Plans have now shiffted further north, with the proposed tunnel at the Victoria Park Viaduct being the last of a set of three major motorway projects in the area.

In addition, the CMJ includes the primary dedicated city exits from SH1 and SH16 to downtown, Grafton Gully (being the first of the three large motorway projects, and containing the section of the Northwest Motorway between the Upper Queen Street bridge and The Strand in Parnell, and the Auckland Southern Motorway between Symonds Street exit and The Strand), with some five other pairs of ramps giving access to the central area.

A noteworthy structural component of the CMJ is the area underneath Karangahape Rd, where some 19 lanes of traffic forming 9 distinct links pass through a very constrained cutting under the Karangahape ridge on a multi-level structure.