Kerre Woodham: I don't have a problem with road tolls

Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

I may not have been flying to Brazil, but it took me almost as long to get from the North Shore to Auckland city on Friday night.

There was a serious crash just before the Harbour Bridge and as fate would have it, I was due to meet friends to go to the Chelsea Handler show. Had I known what Chelsea Handler was going to be like, I wouldn't have made the effort. I'm sure she was all very risky and shocking and wowseballs when she first came on the scene, but it was all a bit dull really.

But never mind, at least I have an opinion - and it was a night out and you meet your people.

But an hour and a half to get there in what would normally be a 25 minute trip? An hour and a half. It would be great to have a better alternative than a 1 hour 30 minute trip into town when something happens.

I can't see a second Harbour Bridge in my lifetime, or indeed the lifetime of the next two generations, but bring on the Roads of National Significance. Seven roads are being fast tracked and they may well be tolled to help pay for them.

It will be up to NZTA to decide whether and which roads will be tolled, but the Transport Minister, Simeon Brown supports a user pays approach.

We're open to all types of funding and financing arrangements to get infrastructure built in New Zealand. The reality of the country is that we have an infrastructure deficit. We have had six years where we've had nothing done and we need to get actually make things, get things done faster in New Zealand.

And so we've said all options are on the table to get infrastructure built faster in New Zealand and that's why we're putting fast track on the table because otherwise these roads would take years to get consented.

New Zealanders are sick and tired of how long it takes to get anything done in New Zealand and as a Government we are we're frustrated about the time it takes that we're breaking through all of those barriers so we can get things done in New Zealand.

Yes, what he said.

I mean, maybe not all New Zealanders are frustrated at the length of time, but I am. I'm frustrated and annoyed that in six years, there was no progress made. And I don't have a problem at all with having tolls on some roads because by law, an alternative must be offered.

So, if you don't want to pay the toll, you don't have to. You don't like tolled roads? Don't drive on them. Really simple.

Perhaps Tauranga listeners are in a better place to judge, though. I mean I have no problem at all with paying the toll going north. The road is fantastic and it makes a difference when it's open.

So no problem at all with that, because if I didn't want to pay it or felt like taking the scenic route, I could. But perhaps Tauranga is a better place to judge because they have two of the three tolled roads in the country in their district. So perhaps you might be able to offer an insight into what it's like to have the toll roads more than I.

I only travel up there every few months and I'm very grateful and happy to pay my $5 or whatever it is for the round trip. But these roads have been in the planning for a decade. Let's get cracking.

And absolutely we should just fast track it and get going. A number of the projects have already had the lion's share of the work needed done on them.

So all the work was done – costings, measurements, soil engineering, preliminary reports - all ready to go, and then they were shelved and left to gather dust under the previous administration. Communities change in 10 years, so NZTA said they'd have to go back and take a look and see whether some changes were needed, but they won't be starting from scratch.

The soil composition is not going to change in ten years. Belfast to Pegasus, Hawke's Bay expressway, SH 1 Cambridge to Piarere, SH 29 Tauriko, Takitimu Northlink Stage 2, Mill Road and Warkworth to Wellsford. Bring it on!

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