Northwest motorway and waterview connection

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# 1847178 15-Aug-2017 16:41

old3eyes:

I thought it was rather strange that if you didn't want people to change lanes you would paint the lane lines yellow as in no passing rather than solid white which is just a lane marker here in NZ..

solid white lines are there to indicate that drivers should only cross them with extreme caution

networkn

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# 1847180 15-Aug-2017 16:46

Regards my comments about my improved drive, this week and last traffic down great north road from K'Road seems about 5 times heavier! It's almost impossible to cross traffic from a side street. Waited 3 minutes yesterday for a break in traffic.

Senecio

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# 1847217 15-Aug-2017 17:23

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I had a meeting in the city centre this morning, was dreading the commute. I picked up a colleague from Blockhouse bay and decided to take the tunnel into town. It took us less than 20mins from his house to the Farmers carpark on Hobson street. No stress.

nigelj

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# 1862874 12-Sep-2017 15:10

http://nzta.govt.nz/media-releases/variable-speeds-to-be-extended-to-allow-maximum-of-100kmhr-near-waterview-tunnel/

12 Sep 2017 02:59 pm | NZ Transport Agency

The NZ Transport Agency says variable speed limits will be extended on sections of State Highways 16 and 20 around the Waterview Tunnel to allow maximum speeds of 100km/hr.

“We want to ensure that people’s journeys on the motorway are as safe and easy as we can make them. Variable speeds are increasingly being used to match speed limits with the conditions and provide the right balance between safety and keeping traffic flowing smoothly,” says Brett Gliddon, the Transport Agency’s System Design Manager.

“Since opening the Waterview Tunnel we’ve been monitoring the operational and safety performance on the state highways around the tunnel, as well as taking on board customer and stakeholder feedback.”

“The motorway system around the tunnel and through the central motorway junction is complex with higher traffic volumes and a significant amount of lane changing and the speed limits need to reflect these conditions while also ensuring we keep motorists safe.”

Speed limits inside the tunnel will remain at 80km/h to manage the higher risks associated with an enclosed tunnel environment.

Additional physical infrastructure needs to be installed on the motorway system, as well as a legal process completed before the variable speed limits can be put in place. That process is now underway.

Edit, I sought clarification if this means what it's thought to mean... 'Extending' seemed to be a weird way to word it..

NZTA's reply:

coffeebaron

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# 1862929 12-Sep-2017 16:03

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Good! A high portion of people ignored the 80 and cruised along at usual 100+

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NzBeagle

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# 1862933 12-Sep-2017 16:05

Agreed, a bit pointless if nobody feels the need to enforce it that strongly.

So am I reading that they are going to have to upgrade the brand new fairy lights they installed before they'll be capable of displaying 100, or is physical infrastructure not the signs...

gzt

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# 1862962 12-Sep-2017 17:10

Extending 80kmh by 20kmh = 100kmh. Looks like there were some problems slowing everything. If the result isn't sensible the next one will be 'reducing the variable limit zone'. I guess they will set all lanes to 100.

Benoire

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# 1862964 12-Sep-2017 17:18

They will be installing more variable sign units along the route in order to control speed in congested conditions. This is the best outcome, except they should go whole hog and install cameras so they can target offenders in real heavy congestion similar to the UK systems.

Jase2985

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# 1862966 12-Sep-2017 17:19

NzBeagle:

Agreed, a bit pointless if nobody feels the need to enforce it that strongly.

So am I reading that they are going to have to upgrade the brand new fairy lights they installed before they'll be capable of displaying 100, or is physical infrastructure not the signs...

no i think they are going to be putting in more signs before it can happen, to make it more clear to people whats happening

nigelj

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# 1862992 12-Sep-2017 18:11

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Jase2985:

NzBeagle:

Agreed, a bit pointless if nobody feels the need to enforce it that strongly.

So am I reading that they are going to have to upgrade the brand new fairy lights they installed before they'll be capable of displaying 100, or is physical infrastructure not the signs...

no i think they are going to be putting in more signs before it can happen, to make it more clear to people whats happening

Exactly, see the quoted tweet, it's installing NEW signs, and also re-configuring (presumably) the current signs to display 100. From what I can tell the current signs are sort of a dot-matrix style LED design, so should be trivial to configure them to say 100.

There are significant gaps in signage that they need to fix, especially on SH16. Citybound there is no electronic signage from about Pt Chev on-ramp merge point to the city (can't quite remember, there might be one, but certainly nothing near/after St Lukes). Westbound old displays in Spaghetti junction that can't do from what I can tell legal VSL signage (no red circle), and nothing from there to St Lukes. Nothing past tunnel merge until the 100 at Rosebank which to be frank, blends in too much and is hard to see.

SH20 wasn't as bad when I drove down it and back the other weekend, just again, the end of VSL area signs needed to be electronic too as they seemed to blend in with the surroundings too.

sonyxperiageek

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# 1863053 12-Sep-2017 21:17

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I saw the other week that they installed fixed signage about a kilometer from the on-ramp of the waterview tunnel heading towards the City...I hope they can remove that and go back to the usual 80km/h about 1km from spaghetti junction, not 5km where it is currently now!

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gzt

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# 1863084 12-Sep-2017 22:10

The electronic signs were at 80 tonight. Is there a date for the change?

Jase2985

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# 1863125 13-Sep-2017 04:56

@gzt: The electronic signs were at 80 tonight. Is there a date for the change?

They have always been at 80, Read below

Additional physical infrastructure needs to be installed on the motorway system, as well as a legal process completed before the variable speed limits can be put in place. That process is now underway.

i would imagine at least a few months

sbiddle

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# 1863165 13-Sep-2017 07:53

For those who drive this route, what are people's typical speeds now in this area? Does anybody do 80 or so they all just go 100

Here in Wellington with the $80 million lemon that is our smart motorway average traffic speeds during the morning or evening when signs are set at 60 or 80 is typically very close to 90-100km/h. You'll see fairly frequent road rage when somebody decides to do 60 and holds up traffic.

The biggest traffic bottleneck is caused by two overhead gantries that actually do cause a ghost traffic jam in what should be free flowing traffic. Even Google maps data very clearly shows the effect.

trig42

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# 1863181 13-Sep-2017 08:28

People do 80 in the tunnels themselves.

I slow down coming in from the West to the city when the fairy lights start, but not to 80 (would just be too slow compared to the rest of the traffic).

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