The same was happening in cities throughout the country as truckies protested at the Government's decision to increase road user charges.
Many said the charges would be passed onto customers and some said it may be enough to force them out of business.
By 8am central Auckland streets were jammed and the three main motorways into the city were down to a crawl with traffic speeds at no more than 10-15kmh.
In the central city trucks of all shapes and sizes joined in the two circular protest routes around the city. They included concrete trucks, large refrigerated trucks, trucks laden with building gear, scaffolding, front end loaders, and general freight.
One truck carried a sign `Helen Kahui. Who killed NZ?' and others tooted their horns or gave the thumbs up to each other as they passed on either side of Queen St.
Police were out in force and at some of the city's busiest intersections police pointsmen ignored traffic lights and directed traffic.
At the top of Pitt St with the intersection with Karangahape Rd, traffic was stopped by the trucks and could only turn right.
Many trucks sounded their hooters and private car drivers responded by tooting their horns.
Most motorists supported the truck protest, with a small number enraged that their progress into the city and work had been slowed almost to a stop.
However, it appeared many motorists may have heeded police advice to leave their cars at home, take a holiday or use public transport.
In Wellington, two major convoys arrived in the city -- the first entered at the Terrace tunnel just after 8am, with a tail that stretched 10km back along the urban motorway.
The second was passed through Porirua about 8am.
Inspector Simon Perry, Wellington police emergency response manager, thanked commuters for their planning and patience.
Police said 160 trucks were on the urban motorway south of Ngauranga Gorge interchange although the convoy tail stretched back to Petone. Traffic was flowing with many commuters electing either to travel into the city early or delay their journey, police said.
In Christchurch, peak-hour traffic was reported to be slower than normal but no major problems were being created.
Christchurch truckies turned out in numbers three times greater than expected but the protest has so far been incident-free, police said.
Road policing group Acting Senior Sergeant Les McKay said they had initially been told around 200 trucks would be taking part, but an estimated 600 trucks were heading along the city's main highways.
"They're still on the way in. They've picked the two main roads in from south and north and they're normally gridlocked anyway, so it's just going to take a bit longer."
Images from Auckland showed some truckies were making few friends by slowing to a crawl, despite having clear road in front of them.
Mr McKay said that sort of behaviour was not expected in Christchurch.
"We've been assured down here they won't be doing anything like that."
As with other centres, Christchurch motorists were opting to leave early for work, or wait until after the trucks had cleared off.
Mr McKay said although the roads were wet it had so far been an accident-free morning.
