Traffic lights for busy Tauranga roundabouts

Traffic lights will be installed at the Barkes Corner and Elizabeth Street roundabouts from June. File photo.

Installation of traffic lights will begin from this month at two of Tauranga's busiest intersections, in an effort by the New Zealand Transport Agency to get the city's congestion under control.

Queue-activated traffic lights will be installed on the busiest ‘lead in' roads at Barkes Corner (State Highway 29A) and Elizabeth Street (State Highway 2) roundabouts.

NZTA Bay of Plenty transport system manager Rob Campbell says this is called ‘roundabout metering' and is used to control the number of vehicles entering a roundabout.

'The traffic lights are installed at least 25 metres away from the roundabout intersection, and manage the flow of traffic entering the roundabout.

'This method is used when one road accessing the roundabout has a higher number of vehicles compared to the other roads, causing delays on the other roads entering the roundabout.

'Most of the time the traffic lights will be green, except when high traffic queues activate the metering, then they will turn red for a short period to hold the vehicles.”

He says the lights will improve the flow of traffic around the roundabouts and the journey for all drivers, not just the ones on the roads with the higher number of vehicles.

Standard give-way rules will still apply when entering the roundabouts.

The lights will be installed on two legs of the SH29A Barkes Corner roundabout: the Pyes Pa Road approach and SH29A Tauriko-bound approach; and the SH2 northbound approach to the Elizabeth Street roundabout.

'Installation will begin later in June 2018 and the aim is to have the lights operational later this year. Works to install the traffic lights and traffic loops is expected to cause minimal disruption to people's journeys through the area,” says Rob.

'The work is part of a wider programme being implemented across the region to improve safety and journey times.”

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5 comments

Oh dear

Posted on 12-06-2018 09:06 | By maildrop

Just means more red light runners. If these people have learned anything at all there will be cameras installed and fines issued immediately. Make the stupid people pay for the installation.


What

Posted on 12-06-2018 12:04 | By Capt_Kaveman

is missing is the left on ramp lane which was never thought of which is pretty dumb and i guess that was martins idea not to include it, again councilors out of touch and or martin again not having a clue


Roundabouts on Tauranga's ring roads

Posted on 12-06-2018 12:46 | By overrated

I hope this is the temporary system, these major intersections should have over or under passes. We are forever being quoted statistics from Europe without the qualification of their roading system infrastructure.


hurray

Posted on 12-06-2018 13:47 | By Kancho

great Barkes corner has become like roulette so having lights will help everyone get a safer turn. I would like to see speed reduction from barkes corner to Aquinas too as it is very busy now the shopping centre is open and more sections are opening up. The pedestrian access to the Pyes Pa shops leads out to a busy road with traffic whizzing through , buses stopping and cars in and out of the shops. All great unless you are trying to across the road to and from the shops. lots of cars blaring horns as drivers bare down on cars trying to get out of the shops too, especially as cars spee through the intersection in both directions . Pedestrians crossing further down have to cross the in and out traffic of the shops to get the pedestrian entrance so still hazardous


But wait theres more...

Posted on 12-06-2018 21:27 | By Neiliies

How about putting some lights in at the Oropi roundabout and the Poike rounabout so that people heading to work can get out of these too - very uneven roundabouts and massive queues to get out every morning - how are these areas allowed to be developed with no thought or upgrading of roading - council is happy to collect huge fees for permits etc but are not putting any money back into providing safe and productive roading upgrades


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