Ask Phoebe: SH1 realignment had done away with need to close passing lanes

Photo / Dean Purcell

On some long/busy weekends, passing lanes used to be coned off, so that merging manoeuvres did not hold up queues of traffic. This does not seem to happen now - or does it? Bob Donaldson, Auckland.

The NZ Transport Agency says changes to the state highway network are the main reason passing lanes to the north of Auckland are not generally coned-off to stop drivers using them during busy holiday times. In the past, passing lanes on SH1 at Johnstone's Hill, Waiwera Hill and on the Pohuehue Viaduct south of Warkworth were coned off.

The practice stopped in 2009, when SH1 was realigned along the newly opened Northern Gateway Toll Road, bypassing Johnstone's Hill and Waiwera Hill. While there is still some queuing on the viaduct, it is not as bad as it used to be, and the agency says people deserve credit for this because of the way they have adapted to new driving conditions brought about by the toll road.

In some other regions, the agency does cone-off rural passing lanes during holiday periods.

I would like to know whether the motorway flow is managed at all during a long weekend exodus from Auckland. On the Saturday of Queen's Birthday travelling on the Southern Motorway about 11.30am there was an overhead sign informing "Queues from Manukau" or words to that effect.

Sure enough the traffic was nose-to-tail and barely moving all the way to Takanini. The traffic lights which usually regulate the rate traffic can join the motorway were not operating at all at Manukau. Joanne Rumble, Auckland.

The Transport Agency says it continuously looks at ways in which ramp signals can help better manage heavy traffic at weekends, especially during holidays. It says the ramp signals were designed to operate most effectively when traffic is heaviest in the morning and afternoon on weekdays. With the growth of Auckland and more traffic on the roads, the ramp signals do now operate at weekends. The system can help delay or lessen congestion on motorways, but it cannot prevent it.

The agency uses the ramp signals alongside other measures to keep people informed when roads are crowded with holiday traffic, and it encourages people to plan the time of their travel so that they can avoid hold-ups.

What is the rationale for painting some of the bridge legs on the Northern Motorway (north of the Harbour Bridge), avocado green? Wouldn't it be pretty cool to have a distinctive colour for each of the bridges as currently appears to be the case for the "pukeko" bridge just past the toll station? Anna Sullivan, North Shore.

Some of the flyover bridges have their legs painted Transit (or avocado, if you prefer) green to deter graffiti and because it reflects the surrounding rural nature of the structures. Others, such as those at Silverdale, are not so painted because they already have a coating of clear anti-graffiti paint. Transit green? Must remember that for my next interior decorating foray ...