National road freight association Transporting New Zealand is opposing a plan to toll the 11.5km Manawatū Tararua Highway, saying the proposal doesn’t stack up and comes far too late in the project.
The new highway, due for completion by the middle of 2025, is being built over the Ruahine Range after a major slip in April 2017 left State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge impassable.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is consulting on a proposal to toll the route, with light vehicles paying $4.30 and heavy vehicles $8.60.
Transporting NZ interim chief executive Dom Kalasih says the road freight body is supportive of tolling appropriate routes to relieve pressure on the National Land Transport Fund, but the Manawatū Tararua Highway isn’t a suitable project.
“Tolling the road is going to divert over 3000 vehicles per day, including a significant number of trucks, over the existing Saddle Road route. Saddle Road is unsafe and not fit for purpose.
“The relatively low numbers of expected users (10,902) are also only narrowly within NZTA’s 10,000 vehicle per day tolling test, and we’ve seen local push-back over that modelling,” Kalasih says.
“This is in the context of the proposed toll covering about 28% of construction costs over 35 years. Road freight companies using the route will have no choice but to pass that cost onto their freight customers, with the toll ultimately being paid by consumers.
“The road is also due to open next year, so getting buy-in from the affected communities at such a late stage is proving incredibly difficult. Particularly after all they’ve gone through following the major slip in 2017.
“We accept that NZTA are in a tough spot here – they’re responding to a clear expectation from the Government to consider tolling on all new roads. However, we don’t want to see the benefits of a safer, more efficient, resilient piece of modern roading undermined. This road isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s an essential regional link,” he says.
Kalasih notes that Transporting NZ is still supportive of tolling on appropriate projects, and was awaiting further information and meetings with NZTA on the Ōtaki to north of Levin Highway and Takitimu North Link before finalising their position on those proposals.
