Ngā rori utu – tolling
Overview
The Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA) permits the establishment of road tolling schemes. Tolling funds can only pay for the planning, design, supervision, construction, maintenance or operation (or any combination of these activities) of a new road. Waka Kotahi assesses all new state highway links for tolling potential, including O Mahurangi – Penlink.
Land Transport Management Act(external link)
The Government is only funding the planning and construction of the project through the New Zealand Upgrade Programme (NZUP). This does not include the ongoing maintenance and operations cost, which will be funded from the tolling revenue.
Additional benefits to tolling include better performance across the transport network, resulting in fewer carbon emissions compared to not tolling the road.
Tolling process
View larger image [PDF, 89 KB]
Waka Kotahi began assessing the potential suitability of tolling O Mahurangi – Penlink since 2021. Between 17 January and 13 February 2022 Waka Kotahi consulted with the public on a proposed tolling scheme for the new road. There was an overwhelming response from the community and stakeholders, and 3,337 submissions were received.
Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, posted and completed their online submissions and feedback on the tolling proposal. Waka Kotahi carefully considered the feedback and amended the tolling proposal by:
- lowered the toll rates by 25 percent for end-to-end peak trips to address concerns that the rates were too high
- reduced the number of toll points from three to two to improve efficiency of the tolling scheme.
The improved tolling scheme proposal, including all submissions, was provided to the Minister of Transport in April 2022. In March 2023, the Minister in consultation with Cabinet, approved the proposal to toll O Mahurangi – Penlink. An Order in Council for the tolling scheme will be developed and put in place before the new road opens in late 2026.
Additional documents
Penlink Toll Modelling report [PDF, 6.1 MB]
This report analyses options and impacts of tolling O Mahurangi – Penlink.
Ministerial Briefing Note BRI 2330 – Proposed tolling scheme for Penlink [PDF, 845 KB]
This briefing recommends consulting of the proposed toll for the new highway to the Minister of Transport.
Further documents will be released shortly.
The locations of toll points on this map are indicative only.
View downloadable map [PDF, 258 KB]
Toll points for fair tolling
There will be two toll points along the 7km route so road users pay the right amount for the journey they have travelled. For example, the toll is lower when travelling between Stillwater and State Highway 1 when compared to using the full 7km road. The toll points are located at:
- the SH1 interchange connecting to O Mahurangi – Penlink
- East of the Wēiti Bridge.
A free, untolled route will be available for all road users.
Variable tolling
Variable tolling means there will be different toll prices for off-peak and peak hours*. Variable tolling helps people make choices about the time they travel, and therefore the toll price they pay.
Road users can still access free alternative routes if they do not want to pay the toll. Variable tolling also allows better management of the transport network. Tolling reduces travel times during peak hours on O Mahurangi – Penlink and other transport networks in the area.
*Peak hours: 6am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm. Any time outside of those hours are off-peak hours. Off-peak hour pricing would also apply to Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
