Q: There are often delays on the overbridge over the Northwestern Motorway at Western Springs because of traffic lights at each end and the fact that some lanes carry traffic trying to offload in different directions. Are there any plans to widen this overbridge? Ron Walsh, Morningside.
A: Terry Brown of Transit says the closeness of the motorway and Great North Rd causes the problem. Widening a road at traffic signals will often fix things by cutting queue lengths, but not in this case. The lack of capacity along St Lukes Rd between the offramp and New North Rd causes extra queuing. But the site itself is the problem. A motorway cannot work properly unless there is adequate distance along arterial roads for traffic to queue. About 800m is ideal, but here there are only tens of metres.
Q: Why are there traffic lights at the left turn of the Mt Wellington Highway on to the motorway heading north? Surely a giveway would achieve the same purpose. Corran Vincent, Mangere East.
A: A giveway may seem to be more effective under some circumstances, but during peak hours it is more efficient to control these points with lights. This way the left-turners don't have to give way to the right, and that makes it safer.
Q: Are there any plans to fix the Trugood Drive-Ti Rakau Drive light phasing? At present the green light stays on only for a few seconds to allow cars to turn right out of Trugood. Nathan Gray, Burswood.
A: This problem with the lights has been fixed, it was a mechanical fault. But Bruce Conaghan, Manukau City's traffic engineer, says the council is looking at improvements to the Gossamer Drive, Ti Rakau Drive and Trugood intersections.
<EM>Get moving:</EM> Space just too short to fix problem
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.