The Western Ring Route is a motorway system in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. It runs along (from south to north) the entire Southwestern Motorway (State Highway 20), most of the

Northwestern Motorway The Northwestern Motorway (also known historically as the Auckland–Kumeu Motorway), part of (SH 16), is the major western route and secondary northern route out of Auckland in New Zealand. Twenty-one kilometres in length, the motorway runs ...

(part of SH 16), the entire Upper Harbour Motorway, and the entire Upper Harbour Highway (the last two forming SH 18). When the Upper Harbour Highway is upgraded to motorway status, the route will surpass the Southern Motorway to become the longest motorway in New Zealand at 48 kilometres in length. It runs through

Manukau Manukau (), or Manukau Central, is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, centred on the Manukau City Centre business district. It is located 23 kilometres south of the Auckland Central Business District, west of the Southern Motorway, ...

, West Auckland, and the North Shore, bypassing the Auckland

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

and thus providing a second motorway route through the

Auckland isthmus The Auckland isthmus, also known as the Tāmaki isthmus, is a narrow stretch of land on the North Island of New Zealand in the Auckland Region, and the location of the central suburbs of the city of Auckland and the central business district. ...

.Western Ring Route
. NZ Transport Agency.

History

The ring route had been planned as early as the first half of the 20th century. Some critics have alleged that the rerouting of State Highway 1 over the

Auckland Harbour Bridge The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins Saint Marys Bay, New Zealand, St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote, Auckland, Northcote on the North Shore, ...

(to ensure toll revenues) was a primary contributor to the decades-long delays. The rerouting is alleged to have significantly contributed to the need for a massive motorway through the centre of Auckland, severely damaging inner city suburbs such as

Freemans Bay Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Hi ...

and Grafton. The section of SH 20 from Queenstown Road to Richardson Road (the Mount Roskill Extension) opened on 15 May 2009. The section of SH 18 connecting the Greenhithe Bridge and SH 16 (the Upper Harbour Motorway) and the extension of SH 16 to Brigham Creek Road opened in August 2011. Construction of the

Waterview Connection The Waterview Connection is a motorway section through west/central Auckland, New Zealand. It connects State Highway 20 (New Zealand), State Highway 20 in the south at Mount Roskill, New Zealand, Mt Roskill to State Highway 16 (New Zealand), St ...

began in late 2011 and it was opened to traffic on 2 July 2017. This completed the route as a highway, with a remaining section of SH 18 still to be upgraded to motorway standard. The opening of the Waterview Connection allows traffic to travel along the entire length of the highway, from SH 1 near Rosedale to SH 1 at Manukau. The Upper Harbour Highway section was upgraded to motorway status as part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Construction started in April 2018 and was completed in June 2023.

Major junctions

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Location ! km ! # ! Destinations ! Notes , - , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, 0.0 , rowspan=2, , State Highway 1 NZ

SH 1 Northern Motorway (south) – Auckland , rowspan=2, ''Western Ring Route begins'' , - , State Highway 1 NZ

SH 1 Northern Motorway (north) – Whangarei , - , , , , , , , Caribbean Drive , , , - , , , , , , Paul Matthews Drive , , , - , , , , , , Unsworth Drive , , Southbound exit only , - , , , 2.4 , , 2 , , Route 26 Albany Highway , , ''Motorway begins'' , - , rowspan=3, Greenhithe , 4.3 , , 4 , , Greenhithe Road , , Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , 6.2 , , 6 , , Tauhinu Road , , Northbound exit and southbound entrance , - , 7.4 , , colspan=3, ''

Upper Harbour Bridge The Upper Harbour Bridge (also called the Greenhithe Bridge) is a motorway bridge in west Auckland, New Zealand. It is technically two bridges, spanning the Upper Waitematā Harbour, and connecting Hobsonville (in West Auckland) and Gree ...

over

Waitematā Harbour The Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts of the Auckland isthmus and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is matched on the southern side of the city ...

'' , - , rowspan=3, Hobsonville , , , , 8 , , Squadron Drive , , Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , , , 9 , , Brigham Creek Road – Whenuapai, Helensville , , to State Highway 16 NZ

north , - , , , 10 , , Trig Road , , Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , rowspan=3, Westgate , , , , 11 , ,

Route 32 The following highways are numbered 32: International * AH32, Asian Highway 32 * European route E32 Australia * Great Western Highway * Barrier Highway * East Derwent Highway * Mitchell Highway Canada * Alberta Highway 32 * Manitoba Highway 32 ...

Hobsonville Road , , Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , , , , , State Highway 16 NZ

SH 16

Northwest Motorway The Northwestern Motorway (also known historically as the Auckland–Kumeu Motorway), part of (SH 16), is the major western route and secondary northern route out of Auckland in New Zealand. Twenty-one kilometres in length, the motorway runs ...

(north) – Kumeu, Helensville , , - , 19.4 , ,

Hobsonville Road , Northbound exit and southbound entrance , - , Massey East , 17.8 , 18 , Royal Road , Northbound exit and southbound entrance , - , Lincoln North , 15.6 , 16 , Route 19 Lincoln Road –

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname * Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *H ...

, , - , Te Atatū South , 13.5 , 14 , Route 13 Te Atatu Road –

, , - , rowspan=2, Avondale North , 12.3 , 12 , Patiki Road – Avondale,

New Lynn New Lynn is a residential suburb in West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland, New Zealand, located 10 kilometres to the southwest of the Auckland CBD, Auckland city centre. The suburb is located along the Whau River, one of the narrowest poi ...

, Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , 10.8 , 11 , Rosebank Road , Westbound exit and eastbound entrance , - , rowspan=4, Point Chevalier , 8.2 , 8B , State Highway 20 NZ

SH 20

Southwest Motorway State Highway 20 (SH 20), also known as the Southwestern Motorway, is a New Zealand state highway linking at Manukau with in Point Chevalier, via Māngere and Onehunga. Along with its spurs, State Highway 20A and 20B, the state highwa ...

(south) , Beginning of

, - , 8.1 , 8A , Route 11 Great North Road – Avondale,

, Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , , , State Highway 16 NZ

SH 16

(east) – Auckland City Centre, Port , , - , rowspan-2, , rowspan=2 colspan=3, ''

Waterview Tunnel The Waterview Tunnel is a twin road tunnel in central Auckland, New Zealand. At long, it is New Zealand's longest road tunnel. The tunnel, with three lanes of road vehicle traffic in each direction, connects New Zealand State Highway 20, State ...

'' , - , rowspan=3, Mount Roskill , - , , , Maioro Street , , - , , 18 ,

Route 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durrës to Kakavi ...

Dominion Road , , - , rowspan=2, Hillsborough , , 16 , Route 15 Hillsborough Road , , - , , 15 , Route 12 Queenstown Road — Auckland City Centre , Northbound exit and southbound entrance , - , rowspan=2,

Onehunga Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill. Onehunga is ...

, , 13 , Neilson Street — Onehunga Wharf,

, Penrose, Mt Wellington , , - , , rowspan=2 colspan=3,

Māngere Bridge Māngere Bridge may refer to: *Māngere Bridge (suburb), a suburb of Auckland *Māngere Bridge (bridges) Māngere Bridge, officially also called the Manukau Harbour Crossing, is a dual motorway bridge over the Manukau Harbour in south-weste ...

''over''

Manukau Harbour The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burnett ...

, - , rowspan=2,

, - , , 12 , Mahunga Drive — Māngere Bridge Township,

Favona Favona is a mostly industry-dominated suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, and is part of the Māngere area. The suburb is in the Manukau ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland city, and is under governance of the Auckland ...

, Southbound exit and northbound entrance , - , rowspan=4,

Māngere Māngere () is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau, Manukau City Centre and south of the Auckland CBD, Auckland city centre. ...

, , rowspan=2, 10 , Walmsley Road , Southbound , - , , Coronation Road , Northbound , - , , 9 , BSicon FLUG

SH 20A —

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

, No southbound entrance (use SH20B or Massey Road)
Carriageway mainline connects north to west, traffic proceeding from/to south on motorway must 'exit'. , - , , 7 , Route 14 Massey Road , , - , rowspan=2, Puhinui , , 3 , BSicon FLUG

SH 20B Puhinui Road —

, No northbound exit (use Cavendish Drive)
Southbound entrance and connection to SH 20B and BSicon FLUG

, - , , 3 , Route 30 Cavendish Drive , No southbound exit (use Puhinui Road)
Northbound entrance and connection to SH 20B and BSicon FLUG

, - , rowspan=3, Manukau CBD , , 2 , Lambie Drive —

Manukau City Centre Westfield Manukau is a major shopping centre located in Manukau, a southern district of Auckland, New Zealand. Annual sales for the full year 2018 were $293.4 million. History and development The Manukau City Centre mall was built in 1972 by ...

, , - , , 1 , State Highway 1 NZ

SH 1 Southern Motorway north —

, rowspan=2, ''Western Ring Route ends'' , - , , , State Highway 1 NZ

SH 1 Southern Motorway south —

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

References

{{Reflist Transport in Auckland Roads in New Zealand 2017 establishments in New Zealand