![\"Auckland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4LD0Q5Z_harbour_bridge_2_jpg.jpeg\")
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Photo: Tom Kitchin\n<\/p>\n
The government is seeking advice on whether to bring in a toll on the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge, to help pay for a second Waitemat\u0101 Harbour crossing.<\/p>\n
The Infrastructure Commission has suggested a toll as high as $9, a figure the Transport Minister says would be a “big decision” to make.<\/p>\n
The government continues to mull over its options as to what a new crossing would look like, such as a tunnel or second bridge.<\/p>\n
In the newly-released National Infrastructure Plan, the Infrastructure Commission said new revenue would be needed to fund the crossing.<\/p>\n
High-level analysis suggested a $9 toll “on both new and existing crossings” could raise between $7 billion and $9 billion, depending on the tolling period.<\/p>\n
“Higher tolls may not raise more revenue, as they would divert too many users and erode viability, and tolling only the new crossing would sharply limit revenue,” the Commission wrote.<\/p>\n
“Other funding mechanisms are possible, but would likely require non-users to contribute funding which may not be considered equitable or favourable.”<\/p>\n
When the bridge was first opened in 1959, motorists had to pay 2 shillings and 6 pence, a figure the Commission said equalled around $9 in 2025.<\/p>\n
Tolls were removed in 1984.<\/p>\n
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the new crossing would be the biggest infrastructure project New Zealand has ever done.<\/p>\n
While the new crossing would be tolled, a question remained over whether the existing bridge would be tolled as well.<\/p>\n
“We are working our way through that. That’s a very big decision for the country to make,” he said.<\/p>\n
Bishop said he would not get ahead of any decision, and the government was working through it in a “methodical and comprehensive way” as the Commission said it should do.<\/p>\n
“We’re working our way through quite a complicated series of funding questions and financing questions around the second harbour crossing. It will be a very large infrastructure project. All large infrastructure projects have to be paid for. So we’re working our way through that.”<\/p>\n
He said “in theory,” a new crossing should be able “wash its own face, financially,” due to the number of vehicle movements.<\/p>\n
ACT leader David Seymour, an Auckland-based MP, said $9 per trip added up to $90 a week for some people who would already be trying to pay “tough” bills.<\/p>\n
“I think you’re going to struggle with that level of price. But you could imagine that maybe at a peak hour, when it was mostly buses and ridesharing, maybe for a part of the day. But I don’t think making everybody pay $9 with no alternative is going to fly.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Tom Kitchin The government is seeking advice on whether to bring in a toll on the existing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[964,114,904,184,85,46,43,965,963,961,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-295909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-public-radio","17":"tag-radio-new-zealand","18":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}