Tararua mayor Tracey Collis says there is little public support for a toll on the replacement Manawatū Tararua highway. Photo: Wairarapa Times-Age
Tararua mayor Tracey Collis says her council will refuse to take back the maintenance of three detour routes if the region's replacement state highway is tolled.
Collis, whose council recently submitted against tolling Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway, said charging people to use the replacement highway would be a "kick in the guts".
A massive slip permanently closed the Manawatū Gorge in 2017, forcing people to use Saddle Rd, Pahiatua Track, and Ballance Valley Rd to travel between Wairarapa, Manawatū-Whanganui, and Hawke's Bay.
These roads were formerly maintained by the council but the New Zealand Transport Agency had been footing the maintenance bill since the Gorge closure.
"We've known we have had this replacement road coming and so we haven't complained," Collis said.
"We have suffered tyre damage, fuel costs, vehicle maintenance costs, accidents, and we took all of that in our stride because we had a replacement road coming."
The council would have entered into revocation discussions with NZTA by now to take back maintenance of the detour routes, but an "11th hour proposal" to toll the replacement highway had halted this, Collis said.
If the replacement highway was tolled, an estimated 4000 vehicles would still use these detour routes each day, according to the NZTA consultation document.
Collis said these rural roads were not designed to carry large volumes of traffic.
Saddle Rd for example was designed for 150 vehicles per day, she said.
It now carried about 6900 vehicles per day and the Pahiatua Track carried 3000 per day.
Collis estimated annual maintenance costs of the routes since the Gorge closed would be in the millions.
An information request was due back from NZTA this week that would confirm maintenance costs.
"There is no way we could afford to take those roads back," Collis said.
Tararua already had the fourth largest roading network in New Zealand and with only 10,200 ratepayers, any additional burden would be unaffordable.
The council's submission to the NZTA consultation had the support of 14 other councils including Masterton, Carterton, and South Wairarapa.
Collis was thankful for the support from them and other submitters to the consultation.
People using the highway daily for work in a light vehicle would be $2000 out of pocket each year if it was tolled.
In the current economic climate, this was unaffordable and many vulnerable people would continue to use the detour routes which Collis said were not safe.
"I've heard from the people in Woodville and they're all on edge when the fire siren sounds.
"One farmer I spoke to said when his kids head to Palmerston for school, work, or entertainment; when he hears that [emergency] siren go off, he panics."
The council's submission said more than 155 reported accidents had occurred on the Saddle Rd since 2018 and three people had died between 2018 and 2020.
The Pahiatua Track was almost as dangerous with about 13 reported accidents a year.
"This is an unacceptable level of safety," Collis said, noting that many crashes were not reported.
The council said in its submission that it did not consider the replacement highway met NZTA's criteria for its own Tolling Policy stated in the 2024-27 NLTP Principles and Policies.
"We have also been asked by members of the community to consider a request for a judicial review of this consultation, due to expectations of Section 48 of the Land Transport Management Act 2003 not being met in respect to no regional or community support for the proposal, and a consultation process undertaken without timely sharing of key information including the Tolling Assessment and Assessment Reports."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.