Traffic lights at Takitimu Drive and Elizabeth St roundabout. Photo / File
Morning peak traffic should be smooth sailing from now on as roundabout metering at the State Highway 2 Elizabeth St roundabout begins this Thursday.
The NZ Transport Agency will start stop go traffic lights to help improve the southbound traffic flow on Takitimu Drive in the morning peak.
From 7am Thursday traffic lights will be operating on State Highway 2 Takitimu Drive northbound off-ramp to the Elizabeth St roundabout.
The traffic lights will have orange and red lights but no green.
Bay of Plenty transport system manager Rob Campbell said the traffic lights on State Highway 2 would be phased to ease queues for southbound traffic during the weekday morning peak.
"The lights will only operate when high traffic queues in the morning on the State Highway 2 southbound approach activate the metering.
"When this happens, the lights on the northbound approach will turn orange then red to stop the vehicles, allowing State Highway 2 southbound traffic to enter the roundabout."
He said give way rules still apply when entering the roundabout.
"Most of the time the traffic lights won't be activated, except when high traffic queues on the southbound leg activate them, then the traffic lights will turn red to stop the vehicles, allowing traffic from the busiest road, in this case Takitimu Drive traffic heading south, to enter the roundabout.
"The red phase is short and will turn off before a large queue is created.
"This is the same type of system that is operating at State Highway 29A Barkes Corner roundabout, and will be trialled for up to 18 months and may become permanent."
Roundabout metering was reintroduced at Barkes Corner in December 2018 which Campbell said has been operating well, with improved traffic flow and reduced travel times for most.
The roundabout metering projects are part of a wider programme being implemented across the region to improve safety and journey times.
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