Whangarei motorists are stuck in another faulty lights traffic jam, just seven weeks after a problem at Whau Valley was resolved.
Long lines of queued vehicles stretched about 1km from the intersection of State Highway 1 and SH14 yesterday morning, because of a fault with the lights.
Whangarei police highway patrol officer Sergeant Chris Goodall said faults in the past few days had caused a number of traffic backlogs, and there had been a minor accident at the intersection yesterday morning.
Whangarei District Council infrastructure and services group manager Simon Weston said the problem appeared to be similar to one that occurred in Whau Valley in November, where an intermittent fault caused by damaged sensors under the ground sent incorrect information to the computer running the light phasing.
"One solution would be for the NZTA [NZ Transit Agency] to investigate and repair the physical cause of the fault, another would be to undertake the repair work in conjunction with the proposed intersection improvements, as is planned in the long-term," Mr Weston said.