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 Northwest Motorway between the Upper Queen Street bridge and The Strand in Parnell, and the Auckland 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 'South-Western' and 'Upper Harbour' motorways, 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 The NZ Transport Agency was in November 2009 investigating a plan to extend the off-road Northwestern Cycleway through the intersection, to join it to Symonds Street and achieve better cycle linkages from the west into the Auckland CBD. In mid 2010, it became public that a preliminary alignment had been chosen, with the cycle path using the Upper Queen Street bridge to cross the motorway. A disused offramp was repurposed in 2016 as a dedicated walking and cycling shared path, extending the Northwestern cycleway through to Nelson street. A purpose-built bridge connects Canada Street to the brightly painted and illuminated offramp now known as Lightpath/Te Ara I Whiti. Origin of nickname The interchange's nickname comes from that of Gravelly Hill Junction in Birmingham, UK, which opened in 1972 and was given the nickname "Spaghetti Junction". Many complex interchanges around the world have also been given the same nickname. See also Grafton Gully Transport in Auckland Victoria Park Viaduct References External links Central Motorway Junction (Transit New Zealand's project website) 2006 establishments in New Zealand Motorways in New Zealand Transport in Auckland Buildings and structures in Auckland Road interchanges in New Zealand State Highway 1 (New Zealand) Road junctions in New Zealand Auckland CBD