Ask Phoebe: Parking ban will sort out problem

Some time ago you said that the council was looking at resolving the traffic obstruction along Gillies Ave outside Epsom Girls' Grammar School. There are several parking spaces that force traffic from two lanes to one. Has there been any progress in sorting this out? Nick Cooper, Auckland.

The removal of parking along the eastern side of Gillies between Alpers Ave and Owens Rd is imminent. There will be a "No parking at all times" zone here, and broken yellow lines will be in place by the end of this month.

Every weekday, I drive to work along the length of Glenfield Rd, from Sunset Rd to Birkenhead. I leave home about 8.15am.

For the longest time, roadworks have been under way at the intersection of Glenfield and Manuka Rds, and towards the end of the project it seems the phasing of the lights was changed. The phasing also changed at the intersection of Onewa and Glenfield.

Now the roadworks are finished, but we still have the moronic light phasing, which means that the majority of vehicles wait and wait at nearly every intersection when there is nothing coming the opposite way or from the cross streets.

The bottom line is that the trip is interrupted for nobody, while the engine idles for up to three minutes, wasting fuel and polluting the atmosphere. I would be ever so grateful if the lights could favour the majority of traffic rather than the other way round. Sensors under the road would help, especially at right-turn arrows, so that the green arrow didn't come on when there's no one waiting. Can you help? Bevan Walsh, North Shore.

No, but North Shore City Council can. It seems that during the Glenfield Rd upgrade, temporary phasing was introduced. When the upgrade was finished, the traffic lights were reconnected to the master controller, which modifies the signal timing to best suit the traffic approaching the intersection.

However, it seems that communication broke down between the Onewa Rd/Highbury bypass lights and the master controller. This can only be fixed by major technology changes, which now become part of a wider upgrade of traffic signal communications on the North Shore. The good news is that, as part of this, the Onewa Rd/Highbury bypass is receiving priority treatment, and all should be restored to good working order by the end of the year.

We have lived in Skyhigh Rd, Hunua, for 20 years. When we moved here all the signposts and maps listed Skyhigh as one word. When maps were available on the internet, it was still one word. However, over a period of years, all the online maps and then paper maps began referring to it as two words. The road signs, and Franklin District Council, still refer to Skyhigh as one word, at least on our rates notice. Who is the authoritative source for the way a road name is spelled, and how do we get it corrected if we think it's wrong? Louis Ingle, Hunua.

Local roads are named by the appropriate local authority, and the New Zealand Transport Agency names highways. If Franklin council calls it Skyhigh, then that's what it is. It needs to get in touch with the map-makers, such as Wises, to get it fixed, which should also fix it online.