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The cost of travelling on new toll roads in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington has been unveiled, with motorists facing charges between $1 and $5.40. 

Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today which three new North Island roads would incur a toll for road users. Among them is the $830m Penlink road north of Auckland, as has long been speculated. The last Labour Government said the road would be tolled. National promised to review that decision if it won the election. It has done so, but has come to the same conclusion. 

Light vehicle tolls will be $2 off-peak and $3 peak - the same rates Labour had proposed. Heavy vehicles will pay double those rates. Motorists who do not drive the full length of the road will pay $1 off-peak and $2 peak, with heavy vehicles again paying double. 

Tauranga’s Takitimu North Link Stage 1 will also be tolled, with motorists paying $2.10 to drive off-peak and $3.10 to drive peak times. Heavy vehicles will again pay double those rates. 

The $1.5 billion Ōtaki to north of Levin road north of Wellington will also be tolled at rates of $2.70 for light vehicles and $5.40 for heavy vehicles. This road will have a single toll which does not vary based on timing. 

There are currently only three toll roads operating in New Zealand. These decisions would double that number, although one of the current crop of toll roads is expected to be toll-free within a decade. toll-free 

The Government has caved on a proposal to toll the new Manawatū–Tararua Highway, which crosses the centre of the country from Palmerston North. The proposal faced intense public backlash. 

Brown said the decision to scrap that proposal was due to “late consultation and timing constraints” meaning “it would not be cost-effective to implement tolling until well after the road’s completion, placing it outside the Government’s expectations for new road tolling”. 

Brown and his colleagues have made no secret of their fondness for tolling, arguing it is a way of bringing forward infrastructure that would otherwise wait years for public funding to be found. While the tolls help pay for roads, traffic volumes and toll rates in New Zealand are so low that they do not cover the whole cost of building and maintaining a new road. 

While announcing the new tolls, Brown also unveiled a suite of changes to make tolls easier to apply. Earlier this year, he set an expectation that all of NZTA’s new Roads of National Significance be considered for tolling. 

The changes announced today would enable the tolling of an entire corridor, including existing roads that gain capacity or are extended by new projects. Tolls will also increase by inflation to ensure the value of tolls is not eroded over time. 

The new schemes can require heavy vehicles to use toll roads where the toll road is designed to divert traffic away from built-up or suburban areas. Overseas, including in places like Sydney, it is common for most heavy vehicles to use tolled roads unless they have business on local roads like making deliveries or accessing a worksite. Brown said there would not be a blanket rule requiring heavy vehicles to use toll roads, but decisions would be made case by case. 

“Tolling is a tool used around the world to accelerate investment in roading infrastructure, and the changes the Government is making will allow this approach to be applied in New Zealand more effectively,” Brown said. 

“These reforms ensure that those who benefit from new and improved roads share in the cost of building them, making it possible to deliver infrastructure sooner and more efficiently. 

“The Government is taking a user-pays approach which optimises toll revenues to build the modern roading infrastructure which will improve economic productivity by helping Kiwis get to where they want to go quickly and safely,” he said. 

The Government is also making upgrades to tolling infrastructure to make tolls easier to roll out. Legislation to make the changes will be introduced next year. It will adjust the law to toll the vehicle owner rather than the driver to make it easier to collect toll payments. 

“These changes will help New Zealand build future-focused roading infrastructure, improving connectivity and supporting economic productivity”. Brown said. 

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.