It is in length, with 15 junctions. Until the end of the 1980s, it was largely associated with the Auckland Harbour Bridge as a connection between central Auckland and the North Shore, but since 1994 it has been extended to Puhoi to become the primary route between the Auckland urban area, the Hibiscus Coast satellite towns, the northern Rodney district, and Northland. Between the 1959 opening of the motorway and 1984, tolls were collected on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and since 2009 tolls have been collected on the Northern Gateway Toll Road, the northernmost section of the motorway, bypassing the Hibiscus Coast.