State Highway 16 (SH 16) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

linking central

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

with

Wellsford Wellsford (Māori: ''Whakapirau'') is a town on the Northland Peninsula in the northern North Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost major settlement in the Auckland Region, and is 77 kilometres northwest of the Auckland CBD. Wellsford i ...

, via Auckland's

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 f ...

Helensville Helensville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is sited northwest of Auckland, close to the southern extremity of the Kaipara Harbour. New Zealand State Highway 16, State Highway 16 passes through the town, connecting it to Waimauk ...

and

Kaukapakapa Kaukapakapa is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated in the Rodney ward of the Auckland Region and is around 50 kilometres (31 miles) northwest of Auckland city. State Highway 16 passes through the town, connecting it to He ...

. It provides an alternative to for traffic travelling between Auckland and parts of Northland from Wellsford northwards. Within the Auckland metropolitan area, SH 16 mostly runs along the Northwestern Motorway, the major exception being the first 2 km between the

Port of Auckland Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fa ...

and the

Central Motorway Junction The Central Motorway Junction or CMJ (best known as Spaghetti Junction and rarely as Central Motorway Intersection), is the intersection of State Highways 1 and 16, just south of the central business district of Auckland. A multilevel structu ...

. Outside the Auckland metropolitan area, SH 16 is a

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) or Undivided highway (American English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a s ...

with

at-grade intersection An intersection or an at-grade junction is a junction where two or more roads converge, diverge, meet or cross at the same height, as opposed to an interchange, which uses bridges or tunnels to separate different roads. Major intersections a ...

Route

SH 16 begins in Central Auckland at the corner of The Strand,

Tamaki Drive Tamaki Drive is the coastal road which follows the contours of the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. The road links the suburbs Ōrākei, Mission Bay, and Kohimarama ending in Saint Heliers providing easy access to the local beaches. T ...

and

Quay Street Quay Street is a street in the city centre of Manchester, England. The street, designated the A34, continues Peter Street westwards towards the River Irwell and Salford. It is the northern boundary of Spinningfields, the city's business dist ...

, directly opposite the

. It travels south via The Strand where it reaches the lights at Beach Road and Parnell Rise where it changes to Stanley Street. After one more set of lights at Alten Road, SH 16 becomes coextensive with the Auckland Northwestern Motorway. The highway travels through the

where there are exits to both northbound and southbound. It then runs west and forms a junction with and then continues to West Auckland over a causeway crossing Traherne Island and the Whau Estuary. SH 16 then passes through West Auckland and past the junction with (Upper Harbour Motorway) where it can be accessed by northbound traffic. The Northwestern Motorway terminates at a roundabout with Brigham Creek Road and Fred Taylor Drive. From here SH 16 reverts to single carriage road. It passes through the communities of Kumeu,

Huapai Huapai is a locality north-west of Auckland, New Zealand. State Highway 16 and the North Auckland Railway Line pass through it. Kumeū is adjacent to the east, Riverhead is to the north-east, and Waimauku to the west. History The area was ...

Waimauku Waimauku is a small locality in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It comes under the jurisdiction of Auckland Council, and is in the council's Rodney ward. Waimauku is approximately 4 kilometres west of Huapai on State Highway 16 at the ju ...

and

, eventually reaching the west coast. From there on SH 16 skirts the

Kaipara Harbour Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Auckl ...

along the Kaipara Coast Highway, eventually bearing northeast to meet SH 1 at Wellsford, where it terminates.

Route changes

SH 16 north of Helensville to Wellsford was temporarily revoked in 1994. It was reinstated in 1997.

Major intersections

''Refer to

for a complete list of motorway intersections''

References

{{New Zealand State Highway navbox 16 Transport in the Auckland Region

Route

Route changes

Major intersections

See also

References