Port city leads the way

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Tauranga is on the brink of opening the country's first toll road to help relieve mounting congestion on the city's streets.

Two years after scrapping its controversial harbour bridge toll, the Tauranga District Council will impose a user-pays charge on a new 5km two-lane expressway, designed to conduct heavy traffic from the Kaimai Ranges to one of the country's busiest ports.

It could be the forerunner of other toll routes as politicians grapple with financing of urgently needed roading. The next likely candidate for tolls is an extension of the Northern Motorway in Auckland from Orewa to Puhoi.

The $45 million, loan-funded Tauranga road - which could take 30 years of 24-hour tolls to pay off - is a departure from New Zealand's previous pay-as-you-go routes.

Tauranga's Route K, so named because it traverses the Kopurererua valley and stream, is a short arterial route aimed primarily at removing industrial and commercial vehicles from the two parallel roads on either side of the valley.

From State Highway 29 at Tauriko to 15th Avenue, which links to the city centre and Mt Maunganui, the new expressway will be an alternative to increasingly built-up Cambridge Rd and congested Cameron Rd, with its string of businesses, several schools and Tauranga Hospital.

In theory, motorists will find Route K, which becomes an extension of Takitimu Drive at Judea, a more straightforward run. They could save about 10 minutes in travel time because the high-quality stretch of highway has no traffic lights, roundabouts or stop signs and speed limits of 80 and 100km/h.

Large trucks (four axles or more) will pay a one-way $4 toll, small trucks $2 and cars $1. Trucks could save between $6 and $9 each way, compared with the stop-start cost of driving on heavily congested alternative streets.

Planners hope 7000 to 10,000 vehicles a day will use Route K when it opens in late July or early August. The council expects to collect nearly $3 million in tolls the first year, with $700,000 going on operating and maintenance annually (excluding interest).

The expressway is part of a strategic roading system owned by Transit New Zealand and the Tauranga District Council.

But it does not meet Transfund criteria for national funding, unlike the present work in Auckland's Grafton Gully linking the motorway system with Auckland's port more effectively.

Route K has a stormy local history.

Tauranga's unpopular harbour bridge charge was lifted in July 2001, more than 13 years and $90 million after its introduction.

It carried on long after the cost of building the $27 million crossing had been met - until the small but tenacious Tolls Action Group was formed.

For more than a year members protested that the continued use of bridge tolls to pay for other district roading projects was unlawful.

Just short of the last local body elections, the district council reluctantly bowed to increasing public pressure and removed the toll - drying up a valuable cash cow.

By then, another Tauranga toll empowering bill had successfully gone through Parliament for Route K.

Toll roads have always required individual legislation, although the Land Transport Management Bill still before Parliament is expected to ease the rules.

This time limits were imposed on the council. Tolls will go once the new road is paid for and they cannot be used for other projects.

However, it will be a long time before the busiest day on Route K is as busy as the quietest day on the Tauranga harbour bridge.

There has been no public outcry about the new toll. There is some concern, however, that many drivers may stick with the free routes. Rick Curach, a Tolls Action stalwart who left the group when he was elected as a Tauranga District councillor, believes effective marketing will be needed to encourage people to "take K".

Not against tolls as such - only the unfair use of them - he is advocating an introductory "good will" period of toll-free use to get motorists attuned to Route K.

The new road completes the $93 million Project PJK which began in 1999.

The other two components, opened last year, are:

* Route P, the peninsula expressway linking to Takitimu Drive, which skirts the Waikareao Estuary.

* Route J, the four-lane Judea Valley expressway, bypassing Waihi Rd.

But they are only part of the Tauranga strategic network - a $400 million ring road system which will include a second harbour bridge (possibly toll funded) as well as northern and eastern arterial routes.

Route K:

* What: New Zealand's first toll road not tied directly to a bridge or tunnel - opening in Tauranga in a few weeks.
* Why: Its main role is to remove heavy traffic from busy streets.
* How: It will fast track trucks from the Kaimai Ranges to the Port of Tauranga.
* How much: It could take 30 years of tolls to pay for the $45 million expressway.
* What next: Legislation this year may open the way for more toll-funded roads around the country.