National promises to review Michael Wood’s decision to toll Penlink road and look to extend it from two to four lanes

Former Transport Minister Michael Wood as the sod-turning ceremony for Penlink in December last year. Photo / Waka Kotahi

National is promising a review of the O Mahurangi Penlink road north of Auckland if it wins this year’s election, saying it will look to scrap tolls and extend it from two to four lanes.

Transport Minister David Parker has no plans to review the decision of former Transport Minister Michael Wood, who ignored official advice to not toll the new road and went ahead with charges for motorists.

Wood, who quit as a Cabinet minister last week over further shareholdings that clashed with his portfolios, used his power to set tolls for Penlink against the advice of the Ministry of Transport.

He also dismissed public consultation showing 60 per cent of people were opposed to tolls and just 20 per cent in favour. A further 17 per cent supported lower tolls.

Today, National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown and Whangaparāoa MP Mark Mitchell signalled the possibility of big changes for the $830 million Penlink road connecting Whangaparāoa Peninsula with SH1.

Work started on Penlink last December and due for completion in 2026. Photo / Waka Kotahi

As well as looking to overturn Wood’s decision to charge motorists $3 during peak hours and $2 at other times to use Penlink, the two senior National MPs are also keen to look at expanding the road from two to four lanes.

Heavy vehicles will pay double these rates with the toll revenue paying for maintenance and tolling infrastructure costs.

Work on the $830 million project started in December last year and is expected to be completed in 2026.

Brown said National supports tolls to help pay for roads, but the MoT’s advice on Penlink is tolling will significantly decrease the benefits of the project and raises questions about the way this decision was made.

“Our position has always been that Penlink should be four lanes, but in terms of the fact that decisions have already been made, what the cost would be or how possible it would be to amend that is the bit we need to look at.

“We don’t have all that information at the moment to make that call,” said Brown, saying the project has been designed to be extended to four lanes in the future.

Brown said extending Penlink to four lanes would take the price to more than $1 billion, saying he struggled to understand why the 7km-long Penlink two-lane road was costing $830m when the 18.5km four-lane Ara Tūhono Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway has cost $880m.

National MP Mark Mitchell. Photo / Supplied

Mitchell said as a teenager he was shepherding at the Weiti Station 35 years ago when the first stake went in the ground for a new crossing from the peninsula.

The local MP said his position has always been to deliver four lanes for Penlink.

“It should never have been a two-lane road. You are meant to be building infrastructure and planning for the future and already the road won’t be able to cope with that demand,” Mitchell said.

On tolls, Mitchell said there needed to be a review given Wood had gone against official advice that showed tolls would end up with perverse outcomes.

Last year, the MoT told Wood that the evidence to support tolling was weak, according to papers released under the Official Information Act.

MoT officials said Waka Kotahi’s business case, the way it undertook public consultation and the lack of public support failed three of the four statutory tests - an efficient and effective scheme, adequate consultation, and being satisfied with community support.

The test met was having an untolled alternative route.

MoT officials said the evidence in Waka Kotahi’s tolling scheme and business case “suggests that society would be worse off if Penlink were tolled”.

The officials came to this conclusion because the effects of diverting traffic on the existing road to Silverdale, resulting from tolling, would reduce benefits elsewhere, including reduced road safety, higher emissions and toll revenues being less than the cost of setting up and running the infrastructure.

The MoT recommended Penlink not be tolled and under the heading “Tolling Penlink could be controversial” told Wood, “We think it is important that your ultimate decision can withstand public scrutiny, including potential legal challenge”.

Waka Kotahi both proposed and supported tolling Penlink to pay for maintenance and tolling infrastructure costs, citing pressure on the National Land Transport Fund. Modelling shows it could collect about $12m a year.

Wood, who is taking “some personal time” before returning to work as an MP after resigning as a minister, could not be reached for comment on why he rejected the advice of the MoT.

The paper that went to the Cabinet Economic Development committee in March this year for a decision said the minister was satisfied the four statutory tests had been met and “the revenue benefits of tolling Penlink, combined with the emission and mode shifts reported by Waka Kotahi, outweigh the welfare costs”.

When announcing the toll in May, Wood said the road would mostly serve specific communities so the fairest option was for drivers who used it to contribute to its ongoing maintenance.

“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,” he said.

Albany councillor John Watson said the documents were damning and cast doubt over the legitimacy of the process to toll Penlink.

“The information provided by the Ministry of Transport presents an overwhelming case for rejecting the proposal to toll. Ministry officials couldn’t have been blunter.

“I literally can’t understand how, after reading this advice, Michael Wood persisted with a recommendation to toll … it fails three of the four statutory criteria and just doesn’t come close to stacking up.”

Albany Ward councillor John Watson. Photo / Nick Reed

Watson was “absolutely sure” if locals knew about the impacts a tolled road would have on congestion at Silverdale during consultation then opposition to a toll would have been a lot higher than 60 per cent.

Automobile Association policy director Martin Glynn said the motoring group opposed tolling Penlink to pay for maintenance costs because it was at odds with the principle that road maintenance costs were funded by petrol taxes and road user charges, and the precedent it could set for other new highways.

“We don’t think it’s fair to single out Whangaparāoa motorists to pay twice for the costs of maintaining the road.”

Glynn was disappointed to see that MoT’s advice that tolling Penlink would materially reduce safety benefits and increase vehicle operating costs as a result of taking longer trips on less safe roads to avoid the toll.

Bernard Orsman is an Auckland-based reporter who has been covering local government and transport since 1998. He joined the Herald in 1990 and worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years.