Public backs toll road, say mayors

Bay of Plenty mayors are confident of public acceptance for a toll bypass of Te Puke, even though motorists are about to gain free use of a duplicate Tauranga harbour bridge.

The Transport Agency has begun a month of consultations on a plan to bring forward construction of the 23km Tauranga Eastern Link, a four-lane road between Mt Maunganui and Paengaroa expected to cost $455 million, by tolling about 17km of it.

It says contributions from tolls starting at $2 for cars and $4 for trucks, which are heavy users of the State Highway 2 link through Te Puke to Tauranga's bustling port - New Zealand's largest export outlet - could allow construction to start as early as next year.

Regional director Harry Wilson said that without tolls, which would be similar to those on Auckland's Northern Gateway motorway between Orewa and Puhoi, it would probably take five to 10 years to line up the bulldozers.

Tolls were also proposed for Tauranga's duplicate harbour bridge, which is headed for completion early next week as the centrepiece of a $211 million roading project, but they were waived in a political support deal between New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and Labour.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said yesterday that public acceptance of tolls as a way of bringing forward that project was high before Mr Peters' intervention, and he expected similar endorsement of the Eastern Link scheme as a way of fuelling economic development. It would serve a future city planned for Papamoa and an industrial park at Rangiuru.

His Western Bay of Plenty District Council counterpart, Ross Paterson, said the link was important for the regional economy with potential trip savings of 24 minutes for freight deliveries to the port.

He said Te Puke, with a daily throughput of about 21,000 vehicles, was becoming choked and a bypass could not be built soon enough.

Mr Peters, whose delivery of a free bridge went unrewarded when he tried to win back the Tauranga seat last year, would not comment yesterday on the new scheme.

The Government has listed the project among seven roads of national significance which will benefit from a $961 million boost to state highways over the next three years.

But Mr Crosby said that without tolls, the road would still face a $110 million funding gap, so he and Mr Paterson would be actively promoting the project during consultations running until September 11.

Asked about continuing losses his council faces on its smaller Route K toll road between State Highway 29 and central Tauranga, he said residential and business development at the southern end meant breakeven point was near.

Despite acknowledging that motorists would be relieved not to have to pay tolls on the new bridge, he said allowing free access would ultimately present traffic management challenges as the region continued to grow.

About six kilometres of the Eastern Link project, between Te Maunga near Baypark Stadium in Mt Maunganui and the Domain Rd intersection at Papamoa, will be an upgrade of SH2 and therefore free of tolls.