Tolling is being proposed for the planned Belfast to Pegasus Motorway and Woodend Bypass, with the New Zealand Transport Agency saying it would help pay for the project while limiting impacts on local communities.

The $1.25 toll for light vehicles and $2.50 for heavy vehicles would be charged at two points along the route, one on each side of the planned Williams Street interchange at Pineacres.

The 10 kilometre four lane motorway extension north of Christchurch, including a bypass around Woodend, is one of the Government’s Roads of National Significance. It is intended to reduce the heavy traffic burden on State Highway 1 through the town.

Physical work is scheduled to begin next year, and under the Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024, NZTA must consider tolling for all new Roads of National Significance.

NZTA System Design Regional Manager Rich Osborne said six tolling options were assessed, including placing toll points either north or south of the interchange or at both sites.

“Our analysis showed a single tolling point charging $2.50 for light vehicles would generate higher revenue than two tolling points each charging $1.25,” Osborne said.

“However, the single tolling point had greater potential for diverting significant volumes of traffic onto local roads and impacting local communities. The single tolling point options also raised issues of fairness, where residents of Woodend would either avoid paying a toll altogether or pay the same toll as those using the entire length of the road.

“The proposal we settled on of two tolling points provides a balance between raising revenue and managing the diversion of traffic into local communities.”

Public consultation on the proposal opens today and runs until Tuesday 9 September.

“If this proposed tolling proceeds, we’ll work with the Waimakariri District Council and the Tuahiwi, Kaiapoi and Woodend communities on how to discourage additional traffic being diverted into those communities,” Osborne said.