Tolls on the Northern Gateway Toll Road, on State Highway 1 north of Auckland, will increase on 1 March by 10 cents to $2.40 for cars, motorcycles and light commercial vehicles, and by 10 cents to $4.80 for heavy commercial vehicles.

Tolls will also increase on the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road on State Highway 2 by 10 cents to $2.10 for cars, motorcycles and light commercial vehicles, and by 20 cents to $5.20 for heavy commercial vehicles, and on the Takitimu Drive Toll Road on State Highway 29 by 10 cents to $1.90 for cars, motorcycles and light commercial vehicles, and by 20 cents to $5.00 for heavy commercial vehicles.

The NZ Transport Agency‘s director of regional relationships in the Upper North Island, Steve Mutton, says the toll increases have been kept to a minimum and are necessary to respond to inflation and ensure the toll roads remain on track to repay debt as planned.

“The legislation covering the toll road allows for the tolls to be annually adjusted in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is the first toll increase since 2015,” says Mutton.

The Northern Gateway Toll Road is a 7.5km section of SH1 north of Auckland between Silverdale and Puhoi that opened in January 2009. The toll road begins just before Orewa and ends after the Johnstone Hills near Puhoi. The toll road gives drivers a choice between a more direct route or the scenic State Highway 17 via Orewa.

Borrowing $158m of the total $372.5m construction costs meant the road was built 10 years earlier than it would have been under traditional funding methods.

The Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road is a 15km section of SH2 between Paengaroa and Papamoa, which provides road users a shorter, quicker option to its free alternative, the Te Puke Highway through Te Puke.

The Takitimu Drive Toll Road, formerly known as Route K Toll Road, is a 5km road that bypasses the Tauranga city centre and takes traffic from SH29 to SH2 in the direction of the Port of Tauranga and Mt Maunganui. The alternative routes are via Cameron Road or Cambridge/Moffat Roads.