Webcams warn of choked roads

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Cameras have started beaming live photos of Auckland's motorway congestion to the internet, allowing drivers to consider alternative plans before finding themselves snarled in traffic.

Transit NZ launched the scheme yesterday with three cameras at strategic points on the Southern and Northern Motorways, but will boost numbers to about 15 in the next year or two.

Even if there is no other way around a traffic jam, drivers may find the cameras useful in choosing to wait until congestion eases before heading home from work or making a late delivery.

But they are urged not to log into laptop computers while driving, as Associate Transport Minister Judith Tizard suggested had happened during a trial of the scheme. Images can be found at www.trafficnz.info

The insurance company Axiom has operated a webcam for some time from a stretch of motorway at Ellerslie, but from a longer range than Transit's monitors.

Truck drivers are eager for whatever information they can get.

"It's an invaluable tool," said National Road Carriers Association executive director Bruce Reid.

"Sometimes if afternoon congestion starts early and dispatchers are considering a final run, they may decide it's just not worth it."

Transport operator Chris Carr welcomed the cameras, but said they would not achieve full usefulness until Auckland's main roading network was completed to provide proper travel choices.

"The sad thing in Auckland is there are not a lot of alternatives."

Images from the webcams are updated every 60 seconds. Transit's Auckland regional manager, Wayne McDonald, said information would be improved as more technology and services became available. Transit can supply moving images, but does not want to overload users' internet servers.

Privacy issues are confining the new system to low-resolution images, meaning it is separate from dozens of cameras which Transit and local authorities use throughout Auckland's roading network for "incident management" purposes.

The higher-resolution cameras, which can zoom in for details of numberplates, supply the website with colour-coded guides to traffic congestion.

Green means vehicles flowing freely, red indicates heavy traffic, and black spells congestion.

Ms Tizard acknowledged road connections and better public transport were needed to get Auckland moving, but said the cameras were part of a "real-time" information strategy which would go a long way to reducing driver frustration.

Candid cameras

Auckland's first three motorway webcams are located at:

Spaghetti Junction, looking south at the link between State Highway 1 and the Northwestern Motorway.

Newmarket on the Southern Motorway, looking south towards the Market Rd overbridge.

Onewa Rd on-ramp to the Northern Motorway, looking south towards the harbour bridge.

Transit NZ

Axiom


* Do you have questions about public transport, roading projects, roadworks or how to get a driver's licence?
Email the Herald