More Kiwis are going to be using toll roads, as the Coalition Government directs NZTA to consider tolling all new Roads of National Significance around the country, from Canterbury to Northland.

Transporting New Zealand is generally supportive of tolling, where it delivers more substantial roading improvements, more quickly. We need faster, safer roads delivered in years, not decades.

However, an important condition for support is drivers having a choice, by requiring a free alternative to be maintained. Currently, the law states a Minister of Transport must not recommend the tolling of a road unless satisfied that “a feasible, untolled, alternative route is available to road use...