New traffic lights are being installed along Cameron Road in Tauranga as part of the city council's works in the area.

There will be three new sets of traffic lights, with Third Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Ninth Avenue becoming signalised intersections.

"We're also adding more signalised crossings along the route to make crossing the road safer for pedestrians and cyclists," says a council spokesperson.

The new ‘smart' traffic lights being installed have radar detectors, which means the lights can tell if there is one car or 20 cars queued.

They can also tell the difference between cars and trucks and adjust the light phases accordingly.

"The lights will work in conjunction with our Tauranga Transport Operations Centre team, which oversees the monitoring of our roads."

To help with traffic flow, pedestrians and cyclists will have their own separate buttons on the new traffic lights.

"Because cyclists take less time to cross the road than pedestrians, the bicycle button will provide less time to cross the road, meaning drivers will get a green light faster, if there are no pedestrians."

New ‘bus jump' lanes will operate at peak times.

Buses will have priority over general traffic at key intersections.

Sensors installed in new traffic light poles located about 100 metres before these intersections will detect that a bus is approaching and give buses priority with a ‘B' signal, helping prevent congestion while buses rejoin general traffic lanes.

"Work to upgrade these signalised intersections is complex and involves working on, and returning to, each corner of the intersection several times throughout the process.

"To keep these major intersections open to traffic while work is underway, work proceeds on one corner of the intersection at a time."

Council says during the initial stage of work, teams carry out service investigations to ensure their work won't affect any existing services such as power, internet, telecommunications, water, gas, streetlights or traffic lights.

The next stage of work includes installing new stormwater lines, underground ducting and chambers, and is followed up by streetscape works such as kerb lines and footpaths.

After this is complete, the traffic light poles can be installed.

"Once this has occurred on each corner of the intersection, the team can wire up the lanterns, connecting the traffic lights to each other.

"The next stage of the work is commissioning, which involves one night of testing to ensure the new lights work correctly.

"And finally, the new lights are turned on, the old lights decommissioned, old poles and wiring removed, and any streetscaping works this work may have affected are tidied up."