Auckland traffic website

[placidfemme]

A while ago a friend gave me this link to a traffic website that shows which roads are congested and the such, it also shows alerts for road works and accidents and so far has 3 cameras you can use to see how heavy the traffic is... it is a fantasic website and always worth checking just before you leave work.

http://traffic.transit.govt.nz/Traffic.do

Now they have a "Feedback" section and I e-mail them this:

Original Feedback: (11/03/2005 18:53:12)
Hi, I think the way that you have provided this traffic information to the public is awesome and extremelly helpful. However, the only suggestion I have is to add one of those camera's to the harbour bridge as this is usually a slow craw in the evenings. Being a motorcyclist and given the winds on the harbour bridge it would really be appreciated if you could provide a view of the bridge and the wind conditions. Thanks in advance

They replied today (over 4 months later... but thats ok) with this:
Dear Tammy

Thanks for your feedback through the www.trafficnz.info site; we've been flooded with feedback, so it's taken quite a while to reply to you.

The website has an upgrade due to go live this August. This upgrade will increase the coverage of the congestion information south to Takanini on the Southern Motorway and out west to Lincoln Road on the North Western Motorway. It will also provide improved information about events and incidents and some other small improvements. In addition to the website upgrade we are also looking at adding a further 8 to 10 web cameras by the end of March 2006, so I am sure there will be at least one of these on the northern motorway/harbour bridge.

As to the wind indicator, we have a wind station on the top of the harbour bridge and we are currently developing an add-on to the website so we can make this information available to the public.

We hope you continue to find this site useful. If you would like to make any further comments or suggestions please do this through the feedback link on the website rather than replying to this email.

Thanks again
The www.trafficnz.info Team

~~~

I know a lot of your arn't bothered by the wind and the traffic conditions over the bridge.. but just incase you are... at least you know something is in the pipeline

[vifferman]

Good stuff.

Incidentally, there ARE cameras monitoring the bridge, Onewa Rd, and other places. They're run by the HP, and despite requests, they're not available for other use. Seems dumb to me - it'd be a piece of cake to hook them into the interdweeb.

[placidfemme]

Yeah... I've seen all them cameras... it's a case of "oh theres a camera... slow down" lol

They should give us public access to them... what harm is watching cars go up and down a road going to do?

[_Gina_]

We use it regularly at work to check for up to date incident info....which is worthwhile if you want to avoid a certain area.....


The traffic reports on talkback are notoriously 2 hours delayed!!

[Beemer]

We live a long way from Auckland but this site could be a good source of entertainment for us as we prepare to tootle off for a ride! "Oh, look at those huge traffic jams - aren't you glad you don't live there!"

The closest we get down here is a link on Horizon's website to a camera in the Square in Palmerston North. No real detail, but at least you can see if it's raining or not!

[bugjuice]

nice going.. wondered why Auckland/nz seems to be so far behind other cities with webcams..

As for the wind, I do care, but there's not a lot you can do about it. I just watch the flags, cos you can see them from the bottom of the bridge as you climb up..

[placidfemme]

nice going.. wondered why Auckland/nz seems to be so far behind other cities with webcams..

As for the wind, I do care, but there's not a lot you can do about it. I just watch the flags, cos you can see them from the bottom of the bridge as you climb up..

Yeah but by that time it's too late to turn around if you think the wind is too strong... but yeah

[pyrocam]

good on ya.
I have never been over the bridge in super high winds but the wind I do experience I find quite fun. like a challenge

[Sniper]

Thats cool

[myvice]

the wind I do experience I find quite fun. like a challenge

Oi! The ozone layer is bad enough!
Challenge? Why? Dont you know what its going to be?

[placidfemme]

Oi! The ozone layer is bad enough!
Challenge? Why? Dont you know what its going to be?

Not always... the wind might seem ok in the suburbs, and as your heading up to the bridge... you can sometimes tell how bad the wind is... my issue is that 90% of the time that I ride over the bridge it's dark so I can't see the flags... and thus I'm never quite sure how heavy the winds will be...

*is a chicken* But I'm getting better at it

[Pancakes]

Those cameras that you can see on the bridge and spaghetti junction etc are every wher and monitoe every piece of motorway from Oteha Valley Rd to Puke' and the east and west m'ways too, I used to do RT installs and that kind of thing and got to go and have a look one time while I was fixing parking wardens radios. The guys are often just looking at seagulls and crap and often theres no-one there, they use them once they have an incident report then they'll look at that camera. Those cameras don't say how fast your going and the joysticks are a bit hard to use to zoom in on a moving licence plate.

[placidfemme]

Those cameras that you can see on the bridge and spaghetti junction etc are every wher and monitoe every piece of motorway from Oteha Valley Rd to Puke' and the east and west m'ways too, I used to do RT installs and that kind of thing and got to go and have a look one time while I was fixing parking wardens radios. The guys are often just looking at seagulls and crap and often theres no-one there, they use them once they have an incident report then they'll look at that camera. Those cameras don't say how fast your going and the joysticks are a bit hard to use to zoom in on a moving licence plate.

Thats good to know

[unhingedlizard]

My brother and I went over the forth bridge north of edingburgh once in very high winds. We were half leant over and still going in a striaght line. Had just gone 15ish miles of motorway, in the wet and cold. Went to use the brakes at the end were traffic builds up and guess what, no brakes. Did a monumentus stoppie and stop just inches from the car ahead, which turned out to have my brothers g'friend in it!!

Wellywood has webvcams all over the city you can use from the interweb.

[Lou Girardin]

We live a long way from Auckland but this site could be a good source of entertainment for us as we prepare to tootle off for a ride! "Oh, look at those huge traffic jams - aren't you glad you don't live there!"

The closest we get down here is a link on Horizon's website to a camera in the Square in Palmerston North. No real detail, but at least you can see if it's raining or not!

Riding a bike means never having to say gridlock.