It was a day of getting out and about around the suburbs and hills of Wellington today with our SLG friends. It was Calvin’s turn to plan our outing, and first up was a visit to the offices of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) Highway Control Centre. We were unsure if photos would be permitted inside the building, so we made sure we took a group photo outside.
Our group outside NZTA
Our group was taken to a meeting room (which doubles as the Civil Defence headquarters in case of emergencies) and we had a slide-show presentation explaining the role of the Wellington Area of NZTA. They are responsible for 3000km of State Highway, stretching from Wellington as far north as New Plymouth, Tamaranui and Opotiki, including the Desert Road. The day to day job entails monitoring traffic, tunnel management, traffic signals, weather monitoring, co-ordinating road works, and travel information for road users.
Traffic management involves using technology to provide road users with a safe and efficient state highway network. State highway traffic management centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch use a network of remote cameras and sensors to enable NZTA to monitor traffic flow and respond rapidly to conditions or to incidents that are stopping or slowing traffic. These centres are capable of backing up to the other in the event of power failure or other emergency. We were then shown footage of a whole range of bad driving decisions which led to various crashes on the Highways.
Then we were taken to the training area overlooking a vast wall of TV monitors with staff watching the traffic images on the highways and in tunnels. It all seemed terribly busy to us, but while the traffic is flowing there is no problem, we were told. The problems occur once the traffic suddenly stops, and banks up. This was a very interesting and informative place to visit, and we came away with an appreciation of the work which goes on behind the scenes to keep our roads safe.
Photo courtesy NZTA website
After a leisurely lunch we drove along the winding Makara Gorge road to check out the windmills at West Wind to have a close up look at some of the 62 wind turbines dotted about the hill as they go about producing power out of the abundant renewable Wellington wind. That was the plan - but it all fell to pieces. The gate to the wind farm was well and truly locked. It was closed for lambing, and would re-open on 1st October, the sign said. This was a blow for Calvin, as he had checked out the wind farm just two weeks earlier and was not told that the area would be closed when his visit was planned.
No entry past this point
Never mind – on to “Plan B”. We drove up to the grounds of the Makara Cemetery and could view some of the wind turbines turning lazily away in the distance. And we saw some of the lambs which caused the gates to be locked, merrily munching on the pasture.
An elusive wind turbine
Twin lambs
It was decided that our group will plan a return visit to West Wind in a couple of months time to find out more about this project. The lambing would be well and truly over and the gates should be open, we’ll have better luck next time.
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