KEY POINTS:
When will the Britomart clock be fixed? For as long as I've known, it's been stopped at 4.07.
Liz MacIntyre, Auckland.
A: Any minute now. Actually, not quite that soon, but it is in the process of being fixed. Bluewater Management, which owns and manages the Britomart development, although not the building itself, is tired of being asked this very question, so it has arranged for repair and maintenance on a regular basis. Right now, the repair person is working out exactly what the problem is.
And our picture implies that it's 4.04.
Do motorcyclists have the same rights on truck lanes as they do on bus lanes? In particular, can they use the bypass lanes on the onramps to the Southern Motorway?
Val Isted, Auckland.
Yes, they do and they can, which rather surprised me. The only exception is the Grafton Road onramp, where they are prohibited in the interests of driver safety, because of the large number of trucks joining the motorway from the port. It's worth remembering, though, that motorbikes may go in bus lanes in the cities, but not on the motorways.
On May 7 last year you indicated that work on motorway ramps at Wainui Rd near Silverdale would be starting in October. It hasn't. Why not?
Adrian Claydon, Silverdale.
The planning process has taken longer than expected because of difficulties with property boundaries. These are being worked through, and it is hoped construction will start later this year or early next.
The plans include one northbound offramp and one southbound onramp, for improved access to the new subdivision in the area.
Before Britomart was built we were lucky to see two cars parked at the end of our dead-end street in Meadowbank, Manapau St. Now, most days there are sometimes 120 cars parked. Although the residents here are delighted that more people are using the trains, it has become a problem because there are just 20 designated carparks for train users. We have been told that people will be encouraged to use the Orakei park-and-ride, but we have a train station at the bottom of our street. Why can't we have a park-and-ride too? There is plenty of land to build more carparks.
Jane Boyd, Meadowbank.
It seems that the policy of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) is not to develop any new park-and-ride facilities at places close to the CBD. They feel that the benefit of people using trains is diminished if they add to local traffic by driving to the park-and-ride.
So that's bad luck for the residents of Manapau St. The good news is that informal commuter parking around Meadowbank station will be monitored and parking management techniques will be used to discourage all-day parking in residential streets. My guess is that that means a ticket if you're caught. You have been warned.
