Tolls on the Northern Gateway could rise shortly. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Tolls on the Northern Gateway could rise shortly. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Transport Minister Michael Wood and his office is not commenting on whether tolls on the Northern Gateway road north of Auckland will shortly be raised during the cost of living crisis.
Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency today said it has recently reviewed the existing toll prices and will announcethe outcome later this week.
Tolls have not risen on the 7.5-kilometre section of State Highway 1 between Silverdale and Pūhoi since March 2019.
Under an inflation-adjusted formula, tolls on the Northern Gateway could rise from $2.40 to $2.80 for cars, motorcycles and light commercial vehicles and from $4.80 to $5.60 for trucks and other heavy vehicles.
In 2019, the tolls rose by 10 cents for all vehicles.
Transport Minister Michael Wood. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wood’s office said yesterday an Order In Council allows for the tolls to be annually adjusted by Waka Kotahi in line with increases in the consumer price index.
“Any such adjustments are for Waka Kotahi to comment on,” his office said.
On Monday, Wood announced the new $830 million O Mahurangi Penlink road connecting the Whangaparāoa Peninsula with SH1 in north Auckland will be tolled when it opens in 2026. It will be free for public transport and cyclists.
He set a $3 charge during peak hours and a $2 charge at other times. Heavy vehicles will pay double these rates.
The prospect of higher tolls follows the announcement by Finance Minister Grant Robertson last month that the fuel tax subsidy which has helped New Zealanders ease their costs at the petrol pump for almost a year will end in June.
Newly installed toll signs for the Northern Gateway just before the northern end of the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway have the charges covered up. The motorway is due to open next month.
The camera gantry for the Northern Gateway which runs from Silverdale to just before Pūhoi. Photo / NZPA
The signs are there because there is no southbound exit from the new motorway before the Northern Gateway. This gives southbound motorists the choice of using the toll-free route on the current SH1 and Hibiscus Coast highway via Orewa before they join the new motorway in Warkworth.
Tolls were introduced on the Northern Gateway, which opened in 2009, to repay $158m of debt on the $353m project. Two other roads in New Zealand are currently tolled - the Tauranga Eastern Link Rd on SH2 and Tauranga’s Takitimu Drive. All the toll roads have a free alternative route.
In the first full year of tolls on the Northern Gateway, nearly five million vehicles paid a toll. Figures for the latest year, 2020-2021, showed 7.4m vehicles paid a toll.
Up until the 2020-2021 year, motorists had paid $157m in tolls, of which $51m went to running costs and $106m to paying off the debt and interest. Currently, the Northern Gateway collects about $16m a year in tolls.
National Party transport spokesman Simeon Brown. Photo / Mark Mitchell
National Party transport spokesman Simeon Brown said Michael Wood should prioritise opening the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway before increasing tolls on the Northern Gateway.
