Ask Phoebe: Disused fire station will get another chance

The Mt Roskill fire station. Photo / Greg Bowker

We've noticed that the lovely old Mt Roskill fire station on Mt Albert Rd has been abandoned since the new fire station was opened a few blocks away. Can you find out what is planned for the old station? It'd be sad to see it demolished. Kate and Jack Reeves, Three Kings.

It was a lovely building when it was opened in 1927, and it remains substantially unchanged.

The building has been declared surplus to requirements, and will be sold. First it needs to go through a clearance process to ensure it is not subject to claim or offer-back under the Public Works Act 1981. It will then be put on the open market to be sold, probably by public tender.

Are there any plans to complete three lanes on the Southern Motorway at Mt Wellington? Jim Agnew, South Auckland.

Not to my knowledge. The information I have is that the narrowing of the motorway at Mt Wellington is a deliberate measure to slow traffic and allow the vehicles from the Southeastern Motorway to get on to the Southern Motorway and head towards the city.

And I'm following up your question about the intersection of East Tamaki, Preston and Ormiston Rds, Mr Agnew.

Recently I had to make a right turn in Pitt St in central Auckland, heading north, to get to Poynton Tce. There are three southbound lanes at that point. I thought I had a clear turn, but as I went across, a scooter came down on the inside lane, and I clipped it. No one was seriously injured, but I wondered - I took all care, but who was at fault? John Turner, Auckland.

You were. You were turning, and the Road Code states that at an uncontrolled intersection, if you are turning, you must give way to all vehicles that are not turning.

On the retaining walls just before the Newmarket motorway exit heading south, there are several vertical timber structures. They appear to be bolted on top of the concrete spray surface. What purpose do they serve? Are they structural or decorative? Andrew Walker, Epsom.

They're decorative, part of the urban design of the motorway walls. Their purpose is to add textural and visual relief to what would otherwise be a flat concrete surface. Or, more poetically, to add verisimilitude to an otherwise dull and unconvincing narrative. The sprayed concrete surface underneath is there to stabilise the basalt which forms the foundation of neighbouring properties.