The CMJ provides motorway-to-motorway links between the following four routes radiating from the city centre: •
Northern Motorway (SH1) to/from
the North Shore via
Auckland Harbour Bridge •
Southern Motorway (SH1) to/from
the south •
Northwestern Motorway westbound (SH16) to/from
the west •
Northwestern Motorway eastbound (SH16) to/from Ports of Auckland and eastern suburbs The last of these links (Northwest Motorway eastbound to
Northern Motorway northbound) officially opened on 19 December 2006, marking the completion of the junction. Plans have now shifted further north, with the tunnel at the
Victoria Park Viaduct being the last of a set of three major motorway projects in the area. The CMJ includes city exits from SH1 and SH16 to downtown,
Grafton Gully (the first of the three large motorway projects, containing the section of the Northwestern Motorway between the Upper Queen Street bridge and
The Strand in
Parnell, and the
Southern Motorway between Symonds Street exit and The Strand), with 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 19 lanes of traffic forming nine distinct links pass through a cutting through the Karangahape ridge on a multi-level structure.
Alternative routes The other two major motorways in Auckland, the
Southwestern Motorway and the
Upper Harbour Motorway, form a continuous link in the west of the city, providing an alternative to SH1 between
Manukau and
Albany. The goal is to provide traffic passing through Auckland, or starting or ending in the western suburbs, with an alternative high-speed route that bypasses the often congested motorways in central Auckland including the CMJ. == Cycle path ==