Tolling replacement road likened to highway robbery

Thursday, 19 September 2024

Belated plans to impose tolls on the nearly-complete Te Ahu a Turanga Highway between Manawatū and Tararua will be opposed by the Palmerston North City Council.

Making people pay to use the nearly-completed Te Ahu a Turanga road replacing the closed Manawatū Gorge will be opposed by the Palmerston North City Council.

Councillor Lorna Johnson, who seconded Cr Brent Barrett’s call for the council to make a submission to keep the new route free from tolls, said the proposed costs to users would be “highway robbery”.

“That’s blatant and unfair over-charging,” she said.

Mayor Grant Smith and eight other councillors agreed, resulting in a 11-4 vote against the toll proposal.

Their opposition ran counter to staff advice, which was that the toll could be supported if the money raised was directed into other city roading projects of regional importance.

Strategic planning general manager David Murphy said the council could use the implementation of a toll as leverage to attract Government funding into the planning and creation of the Manawatū Regional Freight Ring Road that would get heavy traffic off urban streets.

Johnson called that compromise “unconscionable”.

The council’s economic growth committee that debated the issue on Wednesday heard from three Ashhurst residents, Harvey Jones, Phil Stevens and Arthur Yeo, who spoke of being appalled by what they saw as breaking past promises that state highway traffic would be removed from the village streets when the new road opened.

Tolling the new highway would be likely to see large volumes of road users still driving through Ashhurst to the Saddle Rd because it was free.

The councillors who supported imposition of a toll were Orphée Mickalad, William Wood, Leonie Hapeta and Mark Arnott.

Smith said he was not opposed to toll roads on principle, but had been convinced by the heat of opposition at Tuesday’s public meeting in Woodville that it would hurt the communities looking forward to a safe, free road.

Councillors, including those who outright rejected tolling on Te Ahu a Turanga, agreed unanimously that the council could support tolls on future new roads as a way to raise new revenue to pay for them.