North Shore City Council against Western Ring Route tolling

November 29, 2006

North Shore City Council voted today against Transit’s proposal for tolling the Western Ring Route.

In a submission to be sent to Transit, the council raised concerns about the economic and social effects of tolling, and the effects on local road networks.

“The council is not at all convinced that tolling is the only way to ensure this project goes ahead in a reasonable timeframe,” North Shore City’s infrastructure and environment committee chairman, Tony Barker, says.

“Tolling is an expensive and relatively inefficient method of collecting revenue. Transit needs to look more closely at other possible ways of funding this route.

Tony Barker says only preliminary transport modelling has been done, and the full implications of tolling are not fully understood.

“We don’t believe enough work has been done on modelling the effects of a toll road, including the effects on alternative routes and on adjacent communities.

The council also believes there is no justification for tolling the Greenhithe section of SH18, as funding has already been allocated for this part of the route and construction is well under way.

“Tolls should not be collected on the Greenhithe section to pay for other parts of the road, when motorists travelling through the Greenhithe section will not get the full benefits of the route for several years,” Cr Barker says.

“The council is also concerned that motorists avoiding tolls would instead use local roads, which will in turn require more maintenance – a cost that will be imposed on our ratepayers.

“This is on top of the extra traffic congestion local residents will have to put up with from toll-dodgers.”

ENDS

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