EDLines: Centre to resound to schools' kapa haka

It's not that long ago that we struggled to get more than that number of people to a rugby game

It's great to see Northland's Events Centre being used for an event such as the Te Mana Kuratahi kapa haka competition.

This is the prestigious kapa haka nationals for primary and intermediate school pupils.

It's also an event that attracts more than 2000 participants and supporters over three days.

It's not that long ago that we struggled to get more than that number of people to a rugby game in Northland.

And that people were moaning about the Events Centre being merely a rugby stadium, not an events centre.

So if you've got a spare hour or so over the next three days, get along and take a look at some talented young people.

* The "fix" for the Kamo bypass lights doesn't look an easy one.

The bypass was designed more than 20 years ago. And the location of the new light set-up has been determined ever since the first house was removed for the extension. The set-up would have worked fine 20 years ago with 1980s traffic volumes. But the new intersection's proximity to lights about 200m away causes problems.

The problem seems to be that the volume of traffic coming down from Kamo west, out of Fairway Dr and Kamo Hill, is clogging the Kamo Rd/Whau Valley Rd lights and the new intersection.

There is nothing more frustrating than sitting at a green light, unable to move because the traffic is jammed. As a regular user of the intersection, I am starting to wonder if it's "back to the drawing board time".