\u201cNo!!!!\u201d, commented one person below the post, reflecting the feelings of some to potential future road-user fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have got to be joking. That road has caused $4k of damage to my car,\u201d another wrote, without giving details.<\/p>\n
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s Northland Corridor, Warkworth to Te Hana tolling proposal, which is out for consultation until April 15. Image \/ NZTA<\/p>\n
The existing State Highway 1 route through Dome Valley the motorway would replace was the scene of mass damage to vehicles three years ago, after newly laid seal peeled off and stuck like tar to more than 100 cars<\/a>, and for which Fulton Hogan and NZTA later apologised.<\/p>\n Several people used the Facebook post to ask why tolls were proposed on the planned motorway, when neither the Waikato Expressway nor Wellington\u2019s Transmission Gully were tolled.<\/p>\n \u201cSo why then will Northlanders have to pay a toll to travel to see the rest of the country [when] we only have one way south?\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n Another questioned whether the tolls eventually \u201cend, or just keep increasing\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Johnston[e] Hill tolls was put in how long ago now, it should of [sic] well paid for it and been removed by now.\u201d<\/p>\n Another congratulated posters for their \u201cexcellent points\u201d, but reminded them to use the formal consultation process, as comments on the Facebook post don\u2019t count towards decision-making.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t forget to put your feedback in via the appropriate method.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposed tolling scheme would have fixed toll rates with two toll points \u2013 one north and the other south of the future Wayby interchange, NZTA wrote on its online<\/a> Warkworth to Te Hana tolling consultation page.<\/p>\n Those in light vehicles would pay $1.50 if using the northern toll point only, $3 if using the southern toll point only and $4.50 if using both toll points.<\/p>\n Heavy vehicles would pay between $3 and $9, depending on how many toll points they were using.<\/p>\n Two toll points were mooted after analysis showed a single toll point would lead to significant traffic diverting on to local roads, NZTA wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt also created an issue of fairness \u2013 residents would either avoid paying a toll altogether or pay the same toll as those using the entire length of the new road.\u201d<\/p>\n Tolls allowed users to contribute toward the cost of building, operating and maintaining a road, and meant existing funding could be redirected to new projects, getting them started sooner, NZTA wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAny tolling revenue will contribute to the annual amount we need to pay the PPP following the opening of the motorway. [And] it\u2019ll free up money in the National Land Transport Fund to invest in other important transport infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n