Tracey Collis and the Tararua District Council are campaigning against the proposed toll. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
The are calls for roading officials to hit the brakes on a proposal to toll motorists using the long-awaited highway connecting the eastern and western sides of the lower North Island.
Public consultation is open on the NZ Transport Agency's idea of charging to use Te Ahu a Turanga, the replacement highway for the closed Manawatū Gorge road.
The $620 million, 11-kilometre long road is due to open in mid 2025, eight years after the old State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge closed to to rockfall.
But the proposal to toll the new road is only weeks old, and residents of the Tararua District worry it will force motorists to keep using the windy, slow Saddle Road, or the Pahīatua Track, rather than fork out to drive.
Suresh Patel has worked out that a toll would cost his business $3500 a year. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
In Dannevirke, Shires Fruit and Vege Market co-owner Suresh Patel has already made a submission to the transport agency's online consultation, which closes in early October.
"It was such a surprise," he said.
"We've been waiting for the new road to open for quite some time now - seven or eight years - and there was never any talk to any toll charges at all."
The proposed charges are $4.30 a trip for light vehicles and $8.60 for trucks, which Patel said was an unexpected cost for businesses to absorb.
It would cost Shires $3500 a year, he said.
Meg Munro says she's reconsidering her plan to live in Dannevirke and study in Palmerston North. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Meg Munro, 17, is planning to study at Massey University in Palmerston North, and live in Dannevirke to save money after spending next year in a hall of residence.
But the tolling proposal had put a spoke in that plan.
"It's a lot of money on top of what you'd already have to spent just to get over there for fuel and all of that.
"Paying nearly $50 a week is out of the budget for students, especially."
Munro was considering living in Palmerston North, or only using the slower Saddle Road.
It and the Pahīatua Track were expected to return to the quiet routes they were before the gorge closure, carrying a few hundred cars a day.
But the transport agency's modelling shows about 4000 vehicles a day would continue to use them to avoid the toll, leaving about 7000 on the new road.
Te Ahu a Turanga highway under construction. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Tararua mayor Tracey Collis said her council would be left covering the increased maintenance costs.
Much of that is subsidised by the transport agency, but the district was already battling to cover costs on its large roading network from a ratepayer base of about 10,000.
"The Saddle Road and Pahīatua Track - they were existing farm roads. They were never designed for that level of traffic flowing over them."
The council has launched a Stop the Tolls campaign, while on Tuesday night community committee Positively Woodville was holding a public meeting to rally support.
Collis said she was unimpressed the consultation was online only, and open for just a few weeks.
Tararua residents also worried about access to healthcare.
When the old Dannevirke Hospital closed in the 1990s, Palmerston North became the destination for specialist care, as Dannevirke man Wilson Duff and his wife Debbie have found since she suffered a fall.
Duff said Debbie required at least weekly visits for about 18 months.
He worried people on fixed incomes, such as superannuation, would choose not to make the trip as often as they should if they had to pay.
Nurse Andrea Short had similar worries.
"We were promised an equitable service when they shut our hospital here. We've never had it."
Major Richard Short says some people chose to live in the Tararua District to save costs. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Her son, Major Richard Short, who commutes daily from Dannevirke to Palmerston North, said he would probably keep driving over the longer Saddle Road.
"It's a cheaper place to buy property - certainly was a few years ago," he said of the Tararua District.
"Our soldiers can't necessarily afford the expensive city prices in Palmerston North if they've chosen to be homeowners, so purchase out here, but then now maybe that's not a good option."
Transport Agency director of regional relationships Linda Stewart said there was a tolling assessment on the new road after the release of the government policy statement on transport in June.
"Findings from the tolling assessment show that tolling revenue for the highway could make a positive contribution to recouping the project's costs," she said.
"An assessment was conducted on the highway's suitability for tolling before construction began. Though this assessment deemed tolling to be feasible, the then NZTA Board decided to not consider the highway for tolling in 2020."
Saddle Road and the Pahīatua Track had extensive upgrades in recent years and "any potential for ongoing maintenance and operations would be a discussion NZTA and the council would need to have", Stewart said.
The Transport Agency board would consider the results of the public consultation, then might recommend to Transport Minister Simeon Brown that tolling go ahead. Cabinet would make the final decision.
Brown said the new highway was a significant upgrade for the region, rather than just a replacement project.
"Motorists and freight operators will also significantly benefit from travel time savings of 12-14 minutes per trip, and there are two alternatives for those who don't want to pay the toll."
Time savings and efficiency benefits from the new road would outweigh the cost of the toll for freight operators, he said.