Ask Phoebe: Study on motorway extension under way

I have read about the proposed extension of the Northern Motorway from Puhoi to Wellsford. Has a proposed route been established yet? In the meantime, before the completion of the full 34km, will there be a bypass for Warkworth and where would this go? Will Falls Rd be an access road for the new motorway? John Beavis, Northcote.

This is very much in the news at the moment, as you have probably read. The NZ Transport Agency has awarded a contract for route investigation work to engineering and environmental specialists Sinclair Knight Mertz, and community consultation is expected soon on route preferences. A route roughly following the existing SH1 and bypassing Warkworth and Wellsford has been pencilled in. One option being considered is to build the Warkworth bypass first to relieve congestion. Details on which roads will be used for access to the new so-called "holiday highway" have yet to be decided.

I'm hoping the decrease in the speed limit at the top of Ormiston Rd near Whitford is an error. The speed limit on this very rural road was until recently 100km/h, but overnight it was reduced to 60km/h. It is a safe and well-constructed road with very few properties on it, and all the surrounding roads have limits from 70km/h to 100km/h. Botany Rd in Howick has a speed limit of 70km/h and is a busy suburban road so I don't understand the need for this reduction on a rural road. John Brown, Whitford.

Manukau City Council says the main reason for the change is because of new subdivisions going in near the Redoubt Rd extension that joins up with Ormiston Rd at the top of the hill. The new speed limit has been introduced a little ahead of the development, because such changes can take a couple of years to finalise.

And the habitual users of Botany Rd need to be aware that change is coming here too. The speed limit will be lowered to 50km/h between Cascades and Pakuranga Rds, and to 60km/h between Cascades Rd and Ti Rakau Drive.

Chilton St is a short residential street off Castleton Drive. Castleton gets a modest amount of through traffic between Mellons Bay and Bleakhouse Rd. For some odd reason, at the intersection the give-way sign is on Castleton instead of on the side road, as is usual. Could it be changed or is there a logical reason for its placement? Peter Smith, Mellons Bay.

The give-way sign has been on Castleton Drive for more than 20 years, and the council sees no need to move it now. It seems that on this approach visibility is compromised so the sign is there to advise drivers that there is a side road and they need to take care.