Roundabout way to solution

The Kamo bypass extension is one of Northland's biggest roading projects of late.

Its opening was conducted with the appropriate fanfare and the quaint habit we have of walking it before it opened.

One small problem.

It does not work properly.

Suburban vehicles travelling into Whangarei are forming queues up to one kilometre long along Kamo and Whau Valley Rds, waiting to get through the new traffic light system.

These queues were common during construction, and were tolerated under the understanding they would disappear.

They haven't disappeared.

The phasing of the new lights has been castigated.

I have been among the critics, wondering whether a monkey housed in one of the houses adjacent to the lights was, banana in one hand, randomly pushing bottoms to control the lights with the other.

But I've come to the conclusion that the phasing of the lights is not the problem.

The route and rough design for the "new" bypass extension goes back decades.

Suburban traffic volumes have increased drastically in that time.

Put simply, the bypass succeeds in channelling north and southbound freight and domestic traffic but does not take into account the volume of west and eastbound suburban traffic.

I know little about roading design.

But as a punter stuck in traffic for 20 minutes and travelling one kilometre, all I can suggest is that the lights be replaced with a roundabout to keep the morning traffic flow going.

Worst case scenario if this doesn't happen?

Some irate trucker is going to hitch his wagon to the lights and rip them out of the ground.

Worse still, someone may shoot the monkey.