Many Dunedin residents found themselves late to work this morning, as a result of a crash on the southern motorway.

A truck jack-knifed on State Highway One near the Barnes Drive intersection just before 8.30am.

It meant all traffic heading north into the city had to be diverted through either Mornington or Caversham.

Hundreds of vehicles were backed up along the highway for kilometres, slowly inching their way towards Dunedin.

That meant a 10 minute commute took more than half an hour for most motorists.

The jack-knifed truck was removed and the motorway re-opened just before 11am.

No-one was seriously injured in the crash.