Nobody likes being stuck in traffic – but for Haydn Wardley every day is one commuter snarl waiting to happen after another.

Tauranga City Council transportation manager Martin Parkes and traffic systems engineer Hayden Wardley in front of the security and traffic cameras. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Haydn is the eyes of the Tauranga traffic control centre, constantly monitoring a wall of 30 screens to see if there are any developing problems on the roads.

His eyes scan over the screens in front of him in the Tauranga City Council offices that capture live action at key intersections from Bethlehem to Papamoa. When something draws his attention he zooms in, assesses the situation then adjusts traffic signals if needed to help smooth the flow.

This is just what he did on Monday, when an oil spill on Tauranga's harbour bridge slowed traffic to a snail's pace along Hewletts Rd.

'But it wasn't just the oil,” says Haydn. 'A lot of the problem was caused by human behaviour – drivers changing lanes and slowing down the flow.”

After years in the role he knows it's much easier to make small adjustments to ease traffic issues before they build-up.

TCC transport manager Martin Parkes has seen the cameras become a more critical part of the system than he ever expected when the council started with four traffic cameras six years ago.

Now it's the nerve centre for the whole network. With a few more cameras coming online, there will be 40 operating by the end of the year.

'Back when I began here eight years ago if there was a problem you had to go out and find out what was going on.”

But the system does not always need Haydn and fellow staff to make constant adjustments to traffic signals. Road technology tells the signals what traffic is in each lane, which sees signal phases continually change for optimal efficiency.

'We can definitely say since we've had the expanded camera network in the last three-four years, it's helped reduce traffic accidents and made the network safer,” says Martin.

With the high cost of expanding the road network, the control centre is focussed on improving traffic flow efficiency so more cars can safely use existing roads with vehicle movements increasing every year.

Hewletts Rd has the city's highest number of traffic movements, with 33,000 daily, followed by Cameron Rd with 30,000.

Today, Tauranga's system is a leader in the field, ranking on par with Christchurch and only behind Auckland in its use of cameras. Martin attributes its growth and success to support from NZTA, which has funded some cameras, and a regional focus.

Integration of technology into the system means traffic problems can follow Haydn home when he's on call, as alerts of network issues get sent to his phone prompting him to make checks.

'I had about 40 this morning,” says Haydn, scrolling through a list of alerts.

'My wife hates it, but it means I can deal with an issue before it becomes a problem.”