New Traffic Lights Phasing Permanent at Northgate

The trial of new traffic light phasing at the Northgate/Devon Street East intersection is over – and the change is now permanent.

In June the Council changed the phasing to give more green time to traffic on Northgate and those on Devon Road that turned into Fitzroy. The signals phase for traffic on Devon Street East turning right onto Northgate was changed to operating only once every two cycles.

“We have monitored the intersection during the two-month trial and we’re happy with how it has gone, so we’re keeping the new lights phasing in place,” says Manager Roading Assets Max Aves.

“We asked for feedback from the public and the response from users has been very low, with the majority of it being positive.”

The change in the traffic lights’ phasing was designed to give more time to the two busiest routes through the intersection. Of the three phases that are managed by traffic signals, Northgate heading north is the busiest with an average daily total of nearly 11,000 vehicles.

The next-busiest is Devon Road turning right onto Devon Street East with more than 4,300 vehicles, then Devon Street East turning right onto Northgate with nearly 500 vehicles per day – a slight reduction on the pre-trial vehicle numbers.

This intersection, being on a state highway, is one of a number of signalised intersections that the Council manages on behalf of the NZ Transport Agency, which has approved the phasing change.