Route K tolls are to be increased to avoid ratepayers having to bail out the poorly performing highway along the Kopurererua valley.
The Tauranga City Council on Tuesday recommended the toll increase to $2 for a car and to $5 for a truck.
Tolls are going up for Route K.
This proposal is believed to have the public's support after 514 submissions were received during Tauranga City Council's Annual Plan hearings.
Only the library attracted more public submissions.
The alternative to raising tolls is to pay for next year's anticipated $32.5 million shortfall through rates - at $38 per property.
The toll increases are expected in the 2011/12 financial year.
Route K was opened in 2003, and has not yet required any ratepayer support.
The route attracts ongoing criticism from some city councillors because it has failed to perform to expectations.
Its defenders say Route K was strategic move. Council had to act to secure the route, and that Route K's current traffic level of about 4000 vehicles a day is reducing the congestion on Cameron Road.
Traffic on Route K is expected to increase following the opening of the Pyes Pa bypass next May.
The council wants Route K to be taken over by the New Zealand Transport Agency, which staff have told councillors is unlikely unless it is a going concern.
The transfer to NZTA was originally budgeted for the current financial year, but is now budgeted for 2011/2012.
7 comments
Give em heaps Murray
Posted on 02-06-2010 18:04 | By Pat
Touche .
TCC Idiocy continues!!
Posted on 02-06-2010 18:11 | By What?
Route K saves me ~700 metres, and 3 minutes versus travelling via Cambridge Road. That equates to about 20 cents in fuel saved, so maybe 40 cents in real running costs. Therfore it costs me 60 cents to save 3 minutes. That works out at 120 dollars per hour to drive on Route K! I hope the residents of Cambridge Road are vracing themselves for the influx of traffic the day the increase takes effect.
PHd in Stupidity
Posted on 02-06-2010 21:24 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
I would like to go on record as accusing the person or persons that came up with this brainwave as "mindless morons" and should be thrown of the council immediately. To think we are we actually PAYING somebody to come up with stupidity like this. I have a song on my latest CD called PHd in Stupidity that describes the perpetrators of this thought crime perfectly. Another bunch of geniuses to contest for the Darwin awards. Why not make the toll $10 - it will have the same effect.
FIX THE ROAD
Posted on 03-06-2010 09:51 | By 0800mymechanic
If they are going to double the toll you would think that if the road is tolled it would be in better condition then it is???? Time for a change!!!!! Because the old boys club is just not going to be excepted by this town anymore.
Trucks hit Cambridge road
Posted on 02-06-2010 13:08 | By Countrygirl
Sadly I think that the price increase on route K will certainly result in more trucks using Cambridge Rd/Moffat Rd. I imagine it will take a school child or fatal car to truck accident on this road before this road is closed as a Bypass to route K. I wonder if any of the public support for the rising of the toll came from people who actually use it and affected by it? I can see that less people will use it and more people will use Cambridge Road.
Tax Cuts
Posted on 02-06-2010 14:34 | By Pat
Thank God for that I was laying awake nights wondering what to spend my windfall Tax cut on Now I know Thank you TCC
Posted on 02-06-2010 22:08 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
Here are a couple of ideas for the mindless ones to think about: Once a week GIVE AWAY a $5 "Use the road FREE voucher" Kiwis LOVE getting something Free. Every day make the 10th car FREE! This will encourage (as opposed to DISCOURAGE) people who DO NOT use the road to use it - Everybody likes a gamble - They may get it free. It will also encourage people who Already use it instead of Discourage them like the new brainwave will. Remove all paid staff. Run the toll booth with volunteers from Rotary or Lions club etc for a FRACTION of the cost of wages - ie $12 , $15, $18 per hour per person or ultimately Sell the thing to the highest bidder as soon as possible. You bozos at the council are getting paid to do WHAT exactly? It sure aint for using your brains thats for sure. I expect a lot more from my councillors than this. My thanks to Murray Guy, Bill Grainger and Stewart and Curach for having the sense not to go along with this.
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