Survey shows Aucklanders desperate for roads

9.00am - By STUART DYE, transport reporter

Almost half of Aucklanders are prepared to pay road tolls to solve the city's transport woes, a new poll shows.

More than 90 per cent of those surveyed also want the Government to urgently provide the funds needed to eradicate the daily gridlock, according to the results of the poll released today.

Auckland City Council is planning to use the findings of the survey to persuade the Government that the city's transport network must be completed within seven years.

The survey results were released just hours before Transit's and Transfund's national land transport programme and funding scheme were to be announced. Mayor John Banks wants a "Christmas box" package to meet a $2.4 billion shortfall in funding for the region's proposed transport projects.

The plans include completion of both motorways and improved public transport.

It is estimated that the country's economy is losing $1 billion each year due to the backlog.

"Auckland's incomplete network is now causing gridlock virtually at anytime of the day or night. Every Aucklander experiences frustration and the cost to the economy is a billion dollars a year," said Mr Banks.

"If the electricity crisis is now over, every Aucklander knows that the region's transport crisis is still with us and getting worse by the day.

"I'm sure that Government is getting very tired of the slow progress we are making to fix Auckland's third-world transport network. What this poll does is give Government and the region the ammunition to fast track the solution."

The survey was carried out by an independent company questioning a cross-section sample of residents from Wellsford to Pukekohe.

It was prepared and analysed by council officers on behalf of the Auckland Mayoral Forum.

Mr Banks says it injects new urgency to the work underway between the region and central Government to determine a funding package that can be speedily applied.

There is unquestionably overwhelming support for the recent suggestion by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Finance Minister Michael Cullen, for a special funding for the regions network, Mr Banks said.

"My mayoral colleagues want this package in place before the end of the year.

"With Government now agreeing on the case for urgency, we suggest a Christmas box for Auckland. This should include a special fiscal solution for the region, which the region contributes and helps to pay for."

All seven Auckland councils, together with the ARC and Infrastructure Auckland, are working with central government to bring in a package of measures to finish Auckland's transport network in the next seven years.

The work is costed at $5 billion, but a $2.4 billion funding shortfall exists.

Transit New Zealand and Transfund are expected to release their annual and 10-year national transport project construction plans later today.

Key survey findings include:

92 per cent approve a contribution by central government toward completion within seven years

38 per cent say they support an extra ten cent tax on fuel

42 per cent say they would approve of tolls on key roads

62 per cent say rush hour traffic congestion affects them personally

74 per cent think completing the regional transport network in the next seven years is extremely important

21 per cent consider its completion important but not urgent

30 per cent support charging vehicles to drive in congested areas