Transit panel supports toll

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Transit NZ has won support for a tolled motorway to Puhoi from a panel it appointed to consider submissions on the $300 million project.

The three-member panel, headed by former Transit chairman Alan Bickers, said yesterday that it saw no compelling reason the 7km extension could not be built as a toll road.

This is despite the fact Transit needs to satisfy Transport Minister Pete Hodgson of strong local support for tolls, and that only 210 of 656 submissions gave unreserved backing.

But the panel recommends the existing coastal route from Orewa be improved to meet a legal requirement for a feasible alternative to any new tolled road, and that Transit provide a practical option for collecting fees from motorists without electronic windscreen devices.

It acknowledged what it called a prevailing view in submissions that the project was initially planned without tolls, and that the Government should pay for it entirely from petrol taxes or other sources.

But it believed there was consensus that the project was of vital importance to Northland communities, and tolling was an appropriate way to enable construction to start, even if "somewhat unpalatable".

It pointed to what it saw as general support from transport operators for a toll of $3.60 for heavy vehicles - double that for cars - as likely to result in net benefits to their industry over the alternative 12km-long Hibiscus Coast Highway.

One of its conditions of support is that Transit continue to work with Rodney District Council to provide appropriate improvements to the coastal road, which was condemned in many submissions as being unsafe and therefore not the feasible alternative required by law.

Land Transport Safety Authority records show 12 people have died in road smashes between Orewa and Puhoi since 1990.

The Environment Court, meanwhile, decided yesterday to grant Transit a three-month extension of time to keep using the link road through Orewa from the end of the existing motorway, to enable it to gain Government approval for the toll project.

Transit must assure the court in December of a start date for the new motorway or face closing the link road on February 7.