Ask Phoebe: Tristram Ave onramp lights aim to ease congestion

I understand there are plans to install traffic lights on the southbound onramp at Tristram Ave. As this onramp forms the start of the third lane through to the bridge, there is no merging of traffic which the lights are designed to help. All these lights will do is gridlock Wairau Rd and Tristram Ave, with no improvement in traffic flow. Do you know the current situation on this and the rationale behind it? John Albert, Auckland.

There are indeed plans to install ramp signals on the Tristram Ave southbound onramp, and commissioning of the lights will happen in stages, beginning in August.

They are part of an integrated system to help alleviate the horrendous congestion that occurs every day on this part of the Northern Motorway.

The ramp signals will be monitored, with other onramps in the area. If delays and backups start to lengthen at any of these points, the system will adjust the discharge rate to compensate.

As well, flow rates will be adapted at other ramps in the area to help keep traffic moving smoothly.

The ramp signals will also be co-ordinated with the traffic lights at Wairau Rd and Tristram Ave. It's all part of the NZ Transport Agency's efforts to keep things moving in the morning.

About 2km north of the Onewa Rd onramp is a footbridge straddling the motorway. It is an elaborate affair, and it was widened last year to cater for the Northern Busway. However, closer examination reveals it leads to literally nowhere, ending as it does on a rocky and impassable foreshore. As it stands, it is a very flash and expensive sign gantry. Why is it also a footbridge? David Keay , Okura.

Even though this appears to be one of those "bridges to nowhere", it's not. It begins in Heath Reserve at the end of Exmouth Rd and gives access to the foreshore on the other side, so people can visit the City of Cork Beach. The bridge was kept and upgraded as part of the consents granted for the Northern Busway and the widening of the Northern Motorway.

And the City of Cork name? It is not a reflection of largesse from the burghers of the Irish city of the same name, as has been suggested. It's named after an iron paddle-steamer which was used as a ferryboat for the Northcote Land Company and was converted to a barge in 1890.

Is there any chance that a footpath will be put in between Bush Rd and Tawa Drive along the Albany Expressway, as has been done between Bush Rd and the university on the same side. There are a lot of people who walk along this section of road to the industrial area for work, and home again. Peter Simons, Albany.

It seems highly unlikely. Strictly speaking, it is the responsibility of the NZTA to do anything within the boundaries of a state highway, as the expressway is. North Shore City Council will sometimes pay to install footpaths if it will benefit local residents.

The council's budget for new footpaths in Albany has been $87,000 a year, so an estimated cost of $100,000 to put in more footpaths along this stretch of the expressway puts it out of reach. And, says the council, there are alternative routes to the Albany Centre within similar walking distance, so it's hard to justify more.