Aucklanders are spending close to 80 hours stuck in motorway traffic congestion each year, time that the AA describes as a "noose" around motorists' necks.

The Automobile Association is calling for a raft of initiatives to tackle the problem, including encouraging parents to send kids to school on foot or by bike to put a brake on the number of cars.

However, spokesman Barney Irvine told Mike Hosking people need to stop thinking that there's one 'right' answer.

"No one single approach is going to solve this for us. Whether that's just building roads or public transport or walking and cycling or managing demand like congestion charging. It has to be a combination of all of those things."

Irvine says it's important to understand the impacts this is having on Kiwis.

"It represents a pretty big cost in terms of personal happiness and in terms of productivity over the course of the year."

Latest figures show about 40,000 more cars jammed Auckland's roads in 2017 compared to the previous year.

Between the hours of 7am and 9am drivers were travelling at an average speed of 43km/h on Auckland motorways last year. This slowed even more on our arterial roads - where drivers were crawling at just 34km/h on average.

The rapid pace and scale of Auckland's population growth - the city grew by 121,000 people, the size of Tauranga, in the past three years - is largely to blame.

In a speech delivered last night focusing on Auckland's 10-year Budget and 30-year transport plan, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff called transport the "single most frustrating issue we have to face in Auckland".

Congestion was costing the city around $2 billion in lost productivity each year.

"It's frustrating and it is eating into our productivity."

Goff said the focus needed to be on public transport and utilising existing networks and cycling.

- with content from NZ Herald

LISTEN TO BARRY IRVINE TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE