At Mercer, south of Auckland, police checkpoints were up and running within minutes of the new alert level activation.
Google traffic maps at 9am on Sunday show delays and queues forming on State Highway 1 at Mercer.
About five officers were at one motorway off-ramp to stop vehicles and ensure people with travel exemptions were passing through but others were not.
Virtually all drivers were compliant, many even voicing their thanks to the officers.
About one-third of vehicles were being turned away.
"Police will re-establish road checkpoints in and out of the Auckland region when Alert Level 3 restrictions come into effect," police said in a statement last night. "The checkpoints on the outskirts of Auckland will be stopping vehicles and questioning drivers, ensuring there is no non-essential movement through the region.
"Anyone attempting to travel across the regional boundaries should expect to be stopped and asked for proof of essential travel."
Border checkpoints were a contentious matter in the most recent "circuit-breaker" lockdown, when confusion broke out at the city's northern border over redrawn boundaries.
The Prime Minister last night said people who were granted travel exemptions during the mid-February lockdown would not have to re-apply during this lockdown.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said people wanting to replace documents, update workers, or make a new request should log into the business travel register.
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Time for the police to start arresting and prosecuting those willfully breaching lockdown conditions. The country has had a year of education on the rules, no body can claim ignorance.
The police need to start treating breaches of pick down rules as a serious threat to public safety, not lot different from someone walking around with a gun firing bullets at random, not actually aiming at anyone or intending to hurt anyone, just doing it... because.