Ask Phoebe: The significance of T3 lanes

T3 lane. Photo / NZ Herald

On the subject of Onewa Rd T3 lanes, I live on Queen St, Northcote Point and travel north on the motorway each morning. I try to get to the Onewa/Queen St lights before the T3 lanes kick in at 6:30am, but I'm sometimes a few minutes late. I still use the T3 lanes because I don't want to sit in the southbound lanes for no good reason, and I would just be adding to the congestion the T3 lanes are trying to resolve. Would I have justification if ticketed? Steve George, Northcote.

No, I shouldn't think so.

SInce State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge south of Kaitaia was resealed there are now several green cats eyes throughout the gorge as well as the standard white and yellow ones. I have not been able to work out why they are there and there appears to me to be no pattern to their placement. Can you shed some light on this? George Makene, Northland.

The white and yellow cats eyes mark the centre of the highway, as we know. Various other colours are in place to help contractors and emergency services find important stuff at night. The green ones indicate drain crossings under the highway. If you see blue ones it means there is a fire hydrant nearby and red ones on the outside of bends mark the edge of the highway.

The Lincoln Road interchange is currently under construction. Will traffic coming from the west that exits SH16 to get onto Lincoln Rd have to cross (turn right) the stream of traffic coming down Lincoln Rd and queuing to get onto SH16 to travel into the city? (At present the clover leaf enables the traffic from the west to pass under the city-bound traffic.) This will surely make those morning queues even longer. Ian Barron, Henderson.

The Transport Agency advises that yes, traffic from the west leaving the Northwestern Motorway to travel on Lincoln Rd will turn across traffic joining the motorway citybound from Lincoln Rd. The traffic will be controlled by signals and their phasing will be regulated to maximise the use of green lights to the times of day when they will be most needed and most effective. The agency says it is not expecting more queues as a result of its improvements to make the Lincoln Road interchange wider and safer.