New traffic lights in central Oamaru were on the blink yesterday, but this time it was deliberate as the New Zealand Transport Authority moved to permanently fix the problem.
At the same time, it was fine-tuning the layout of the lights at the Thames-Severn-Coquet Sts intersection and shifting a control box which was damaged by a truck that skidded on ice last month.
The agency's projects team manager, Simon Underwood, said a lot of work was being done yesterday to reduce inconvenience to motorists.
The lights would be back to normal today.
Contractors were shifting the control box to a safer position where it would not be prone to damage.
Wiring had already been installed at the new site to reduce the time the lights would be out of action.
At the same time, some refinements were being made to the signals, including the left and right arrows for traffic coming from lower Thames St.
Instead of the arrow lights being on top of each other, which was confusing for some motorists, they would be placed side-by-side.
A traffic signal pole on one of the traffic islands was being removed and the signals placed on a standard light to improve the streetscape.
The fault which had caused the lights at the Thames-Severn-Coquet Sts intersection to fail and start blinking had been traced to a faulty piece of hardware, which was being replaced.
