Editorial: On the road to more toll highways

The Government's decision to finance a Northern Motorway extension from tolls could be a momentous one for road development in this country. The 7.5km extension from Orewa to Puhoi, which will carry a charge of about $1.80 for cars and $3.60 for heavy vehicles, could be the precursor of many more toll-financed projects where governments can be satisfied that local residents support the proposal and a free alternative road is readily available.

Transport Minister Pete Hodgson believes the Hibiscus Coast bypass satisfies both conditions. A vocal local group remains vehemently opposed to the toll but the district has been consulted and canvassed and the general opinion seems to be: better a tolled bypass than none. At present the motorway north feeds all its traffic into the streets of Orewa and, worse, southbound traffic banks back several kilometres north of Orewa every busy holiday weekend as travellers wait to enter the motorway. Transit New Zealand, which extended the motorway to Orewa not many years ago, has not enough in its present budget to complete the Albany-to-Puhoi project. About $180 million of the cost will come from the national land transport fund and the remainder, $159 million, is expected from tolls over 35 years.
Tolls will never be popular; people resent paying for the use of any amenity they are accustomed to using free of charge. And they will resent road tolls with particular chagrin for as long as a good proportion of the tax they pay on petrol is siphoned away from the land transport fund. But so long as a free alternative exists, there can be no practical objection to a toll. The opponents of this project, residents of Waiwera in particular, will have the choice of using the existing route and they will find it less congested if long-distance travellers prefer to pay to continue on the motorway.

Some of the practicalities of the toll remain unclear. Will it be collected manually or electronically? If the electronic technology is not available, will the cash collection point be at the Orewa or Puhoi end? And if it is a cash charge, surely the amount will not be $1.80 or $3.60. Those are the sums "in today's money" said Mr Hodgson. When the road is completed in four years it will no doubt carry a charge in more convenient $2 coins. It is much to be hoped that electronic tolling is installed. The technology is already working in other countries. New Zealanders will find tolls far easier to accept if they are clocked as they enter the road rather than be held up to hand over a coin.

Whatever system is adopted there will be initial resistance, as there has been to Tauranga's tolled route. People will probably avoid the charge unless the free roads are impossibly congested. Outside periods of peak holiday flow, the motorway from Orewa to Puhoi might attract little use and the return from tolls might be less than expected. But an electronic system would increase the likelihood that residents of the growing towns and coastal resorts of Rodney will become accustomed to keeping a pre-paid meter on their windscreen and routinely using the road without further inconvenience.

It could take a little longer for infrequent travellers to ensure they are prepared for a toll. It may be they who continue to cause congestion in Orewa at the beginning and end of long weekends. But once one main road is tolled, others will follow to fill gaps in the tax-financed roading programme and it might not take too long for toll meters to become standard vehicle equipment.

Tolls are more than a method of financing new roads, they are the best antidote to traffic congestion. Tolls as low as $2 are readily affordable yet also cause travellers to consider the worth of their journey. They can clear a path for those who have most need to travel and most to lose from delays. When we see the results of tolls we will probably wonder why it took so long to introduce them. And we may look back on this week's decision as the breakthrough.