The NZ Transport Agency has begun work on the final stage of a project on Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway (State Highway 20) to provide more information to help drivers plan their journeys.
The project will extend the electronic footprint used to collect and provide information across Auckland’s motorway network.
“There’s a gap in that electronic footprint between Bader Drive and Puhinui Road in Manukau and that’s the gap we’re closing so that we can provide as much information as possible to allow drivers to make informed decisions about their travel,” says the Transport Agency’s National Journey Manager, Kathryn Musgrave.
“This is a specialised project directed only at getting the best possible use from our existing network to give people more accurate information and allow us and emergency services to respond more quickly if there is an incident on the motorway.”
The work includes the installation of five new closed circuit tv cameras that will monitor this section of the Southwestern Motorway, a new variable message sign to advise people of driving conditions ahead spanning the motorway just south of Portage Road, and three electronic signs along Massey Road to advise drivers of journey times before they join the motorway.
Work began on the project at the end of winter by laying 5km of fibre optic cable underground.
“It was a tricky operation because of poor soil conditions, and we had to avoid a gas main and a high tension electricity cable. We do plan to have the work completed and operational for drivers by Christmas,” Mrs Musgrave says.
The fibre optic cables send electronic data to the Joint Transport Operations Centre run by the Transport Agency and Auckland Transport at Takapuna, which is responsible for the management of the motorway network and key arterial roads in the city.
