Government to introduce tolls on new $830m Penlink road connecting Whangaparāoa Peninsula to SH1 north of Auckland

Artist's impression of Penlink highway between Whangaparāoa Peninsula and Northern Motorway. Photo / File

Motorists using the new $830 million O Mahurangi Penlink road connecting the Whangaparāoa Peninsula with SH1 in north Auckland will pay a toll.

Transport Minister Michael Wood has decided there will be a $3 charge during peak hours and $2 charge at other times. Heavy vehicles will pay double these rates.

Public transport operators and cyclists will get to use the new road and separated shared path for free when it opens in 2026.

Wood said the road will mostly serve specific communities so the fairest option is for drivers who use it to contribute to its ongoing maintenance, which will cost $3m a year.

The current toll at the nearby Northern Gateway on SH1 is $2.40 for cars and $4.80 for trucks.

For Penlink, toll cameras will be installed at two locations, one near SH1 and the other just east of the Weiti Bridge.

“Based on community feedback we reduced the tolls for peak trips by 25 per cent to help address concerns that the toll rates were too high. We also removed a third proposed toll point at the Stillwater interchange to improve the efficiency of the tolling scheme,” Wood said.

Albany councillor John Watson said the new Penlink road should not be tolled with the possibility of congestion charging, and the Auckland regional fuel tax of 11.5 cents a litre.

What’s more, he said, one of the main “drivers” for Penlink is the growth it enables around Milldale and Dairy Flat, which without Penlink would require a big investment in widening the northern approaches on SH1 to Silverdale

“While Whangaparāoa Peninsula is certainly the major beneficiary, it should not necessarily be paying for benefits that accrue elsewhere as a consequence. That reality seems to have been overlooked in this decision.”