I don't regularly ride through this intersection, but had the chance yesterday on the way to the Regional Active Transport Forum. Some points I noticed below - any other comments from people who use the route?
- coming from Wellington on the shared cycle/walking path on the south side of the Hutt Rd, the natural line to cross the intersection to get to the on ramp to SH2 (the red line on the attached image), joins the green strip after the detector pads, so it's likely that a cyclist won't set off the warning sign.
- when the warning sign is set off, the light on the post where cyclists enter the onramp glows red. I think this means that the warning sign for motorists is activated, so in fact it's a good time for cyclists to cross the on ramp. However intuitively this means "stop" so cyclists will be confused by this.
- crossing from the traffic island at the end of the Hutt Road to join SH1 going up the Ngauranga gorge, there's a cycle stop/go light to help cross the intersection. However a cyclist using this comes into conflict with traffic coming out of the off ramp from Petone and heading for Jarden Mile (see the attached diagram). I experienced this myself - as I crossed the intersection, my natural instinct was to head for the green cycle stop/go light, but realised I was running close to a vehicle heading for Jarden Mile - I don't think the driver was aware of my presence because I was at right angles to his line of vision.
I suggested that:
- green strip be laid on the intersection to indicate the suggested path for cyclists from the Hutt Road to the SH2 onramp to guide cyclists over the detector pad (which possibly should be moved east a bit to correspond to where cyclists are likely to ride)
- the colour of the light on the post for the onramp be changed, and signage informing cyclists of the meaning. Currenlty there is no signage telling cyclists about the warning system. Maybe "orange light indicates warning light activated - proceed with caution"
- install a red straight ahead arrow at the lights for vehicles coming from the SH2 offramp going to Jarden Mile, so they wait until cyclists clear the intersection.
- green strip across from the traffic island to SH2 going up Ngauranga to indicate the route that cyclists will follow.