Mayor questions prospect of another toll road

Thursday, 21 November 2017

Documents released under the Official Information Act show the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is looking at tolls for four uncompleted roads nationally - including the yet to be built Tauranga Northern Link.

Western Bay of Plenty District Mayor Garry Webber says while he accepts tolling is a tool NZTA could use to speed up the building of State Highways, he questions the equity of the approach across New Zealand.

The Western Bay already has two out of the country's three toll roads, the Tauranga Eastern Link, which has been tolled since 2015 and Takitimu Drive, tolled from 2003.

There's no doubt these roads have brought significant benefit, particularly in terms of efficiency and safety, however it's hard to reconcile the Western Bay sub-region could end up with another toll road while other large scale roading network upgrades and improvements in Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury have been progressed without tolling.

Garry understands the outcomes of the Tauranga Northern Link tolling investigation are not expected until mid-2018.

I'm not going to predict the final outcome however I will be reminding central government of the need for equity when it comes to applying road funding tools around the country.

It's vital the right balance is struck between the benefit of yet another toll road to the residents of the Western Bay sub-region and the additional cost to those same residents, businesses and visitors compared to residents in other areas who do not have toll roads.