THE PROSPECTS FOR PRIVATE ROAD FUNDING IN NEW ZEALAND

This article compares international developments in private toll road funding with its prospects in New Zealand, and draws several conclusions. Toll roads are popular in continental Europe, especially in France, Italy and Spain, and also in the USA, Mexico, Thailand and Malaysia. There are several toll roads, toll bridges and toll tunnels in Australia. Most of these toll roads are either longer distance interurban roads, or roads in fast developing suburban areas with heavily congested though sparse networks. In the latter case, tolls are usually expected to fund only a proportion of costs, and are supplemented by developer contributions or special taxes. Proposed toll roads should have a reasonable length, with few interchanges, so that time can be saved compared with an uncharged alternative, and toll payment can be made worthwhile. For New Zealand, this means that possible toll roads should be at least 15km long in areas with major growth or where high usage is expected; such sites are not common. Other reasons for being cautious of physical toll road prospects were given by Brian Michie at the Transit New Zealand Land Transport Symposium. He noted that gains from private sector investment on toll roads would usually be outweighed by their greater costs.