Traffic whizzes along the Takitimu Drive toll road, looking towards the Lakes. Photo / Alex Cairns
Traffic whizzes along the Takitimu Drive toll road, looking towards the Lakes. Photo / Alex Cairns
Tauranga’s Takitimu Drive is expected to become free for motorists in eight years.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency estimated the loan used to establish Takitimu Drive should be fully repaid by 2031 - making the road the first of the country’s three toll roads to have its charges removed.
Auckland’sNorthern Gateway was estimated to be repaid by 2039 and Tauranga’s Eastern Link/SH2 by 2040.
For Tauranga truck driver Glen Fraser, the date for Takitimu Drive could not come soon enough.
Fraser said he was not against toll roads and used Tauranga’s two often.
However, he did not agree with people being charged when the roads were heavily congested or reduced in speed limit to do long-standing roadworks or construction. These were situations often found on Takitimu Drive, he said.
“That’s not right. What are you paying for?” Fraser said.
“People are not getting to where they want to be as quickly as they would expect. It’s a bit like buying a bottle of milk that’s only half-full.”
Fraser said he would prefer to see the toll from Takitimu Drive transferred to the new Takitimu North Link when that eventually opened. He believed the new road would be far superior to Takitimu Drive, which was 20 years old.
Takitimu Drive was also “nowhere as flash as the Eastern Link”.
Takitimu Drive has earned a total of $65.7 million since Waka Kotahi took the road over in 2015.
In the past financial year, the toll road reaped $10.27m in total revenue. Of that, $6.73m went towards paying off the loan needed for its creation, while the remainder was retained by the transport agency for operating costs.
Waka Kotahi regional manager of maintenance and operations Rob Campbell said tolls were about funding a road to get it built earlier than would otherwise be possible.
In his opinion: “The analogy of ‘buying a bottle of milk that’s only half full’ is nonsensical. If there was no toll, there would be no bottle to hold the milk in the first place,” Campbell said.
“Tolling isn’t there because it offers a higher standard of road, but because roads such as Takitimu Drive may not exist if Waka Kotahi hadn’t borrowed the money to build them.”
Campbell said tolls would be removed when those costs were recovered. In Takitimu Drive’s case, that would be about 2031, he said.
Tauranga truck driver Glen Fraser says toll roads can be great. Photo / Alex Cairns
“The long-standing roadworks add only a small amount of time to journeys as the speed limit through that section is 80km/h.”
Campbell said the transport agency worked hard to minimise disruption on Takitimu Drive, as it did with other state highways.
“However, all roads require maintenance and renewals which will cause disruption, and some roads will be affected by larger projects such as Takatimu North Link. However, these all benefit the road user in the long term.”
Campbell said the transport agency would not be able to transfer a toll to a different highway as it would not be a user-pays model.
There were free alternative routes available for those who do not want to pay a toll, he said.
Road works on the Takitimu Drive toll road, looking towards Tauranga's city centre, have prompted a reduced speed limit. Photo / Alex Cairns
Takitimu Drive, previously known as Route K, opened in July 2003. In September 2013, the then-council-owned road had debt sitting at $61.5m, and predictions were that the road was not expected to become cashflow positive until around 2026. Negotiations between Tauranga City Council and the transport agency about handing over ownership of the toll road began. The transport agency took over the road in August 2015.
As part of this deal, ownership of the Turret Rd and 15th Ave route was transferred back to the council, under the terms of a 2002 funding agreement with Waka Kotahi.
On the Tauranga Eastern Link, the fee increased by 20 cents - rising from $2.10 to $2.30 - for cars and motorcycles while charges for heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses, would increase by 40 cents from $5.20 to $5.60.
On Takitimu Drive, charges of $1.90 for cars and motorcycles and $5 for heavy vehicles increased to $2.10 and $5.40 respectively. On the Northern Gateway, these charges for cars and motorcycles increased from $2.40 to $2.60 and heavy vehicles from $4.80 to $5.20.
The increases were the first since 2019.
In April, Pāpāmoa resident Ian Young’s petition to abolish tolls on New Zealand roads was presented to Parliament.
In Young’s view, there were three public highways in New Zealand that incur a toll.
“Two of these are in the greater Tauranga area, one of which I believe is little better than a B-grade road. In my view, other superior expressways and motorways in the country are toll-free - this is an inequity, and the easiest way to address it is to make all public roads toll-free,” his petition stated.
The petition was reported and referred to the Minister of Transport.
