Auckland Regional Office
11 September 2006
MEDIA RELEASE

Ramp signalling given go ahead on Northern and Northwestern Motorways

Transit New Zealand has been given the green light to extend its ramp signalling system to cover the Northern and Northwestern Motorways.

Land Transport NZ has confirmed funding for the installation of ramp signals on 15 Northern Motorway on-ramps and 15 Northwestern Motorway on-ramps. Design work will start immediately, with construction planned to begin on the Northwestern Motorway in June and on the Northern Motorway in November next year. Installation will take around 18 months to complete.

Work to install ramp signals on the Southern Motorway is already underway and the first ramp signals, at Papakura and Takanini followed by ramps within the Central Motorway Junction (CMJ), will begin operating later this year.

Regional manager Peter Spies says Transit will work with both Waitakere City and North Shore City Councils to ensure the design and installation of the ramp signalling system integrates with their existing projects and plans for new roads.

He says the ramp signals will improve a number of capacity and safety issues on the Northwestern Motorway and will also be co-ordinated with Waitakere City’s planned improvements to Lincoln Road and Te Atatu. On the Northern Motorway, the ramp signals will will complement and link with the Northern Busway.

As on the Southern Motorway, several locations will include bypass lanes to give priority to trucks, buses and high occupancy vehicles.

The latest funding decision means Transit now has approval to install ramp signals at all 61 on-ramps across the Southern, Northwestern and Northern motorways. This, combined with the project proposed in Transit’s State Highway Forecast to install ramp signals along the Western Ring Route, would see ramp signals operating across the entire Auckland motorway network.

Ramp signals are used extensively overseas and will become a key feature of Transit’s comprehensive traffic management system in Auckland. They will help improve traffic flow on the motorway during busy times by managing the rate at which vehicles merge from on-ramps onto the motorway, resulting in more predictable and reliable journey times and safer merging.

The introduction of ramp signals across Auckland’s motorways follows an earlier trial on the SH20 Southwestern Motorway on-ramp at Rimu Road.

ENDS

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