New Zealand gets first modern pike - video tolled

New Zealand has had toll bridges but until now no modern toll road ('pike is our slang). That changes Jan 25 when a Northern Gateway Toll Road (NGTR) opens on NZ1 (State Highway 1) north of Auckland, the South Pacific country's major metro area. Just 7.5km (4.7 miles) long. The 2x2 lane tollroad which is an extension of a tax supported Orewa-Puhoi expressway heading north out of Auckland cost $215m to build (NZ$360m @NZ$=60c).

Taking a more direct route through hilly broken terrain inland of the old surface arterial NZ17 it offers a quicker, safer route to points north, called Northland. Major structures on the project are tunnels and bridges.

The bridge Waiwera Viaduct is a twin span concrete box girder bridge 537m long (1762ft) with a 76m (249ft) main span 31m (102ft) above water.  There are four other sets of bridges.

Johnstone's Hill Tunnels are 385m (1263ft) long, each 12m (39ft) wide and 9m (30ft) high providing 2x3.5m (11.5ft) roadways and a 2.5m (8ft) shoulder in each tunnel. They were constructed using roadheaders and rockbolting.

The one cross bridge on the project is a striking design with split piers perched on the slopes of the main road cut. (picture below)

Video tolling, no transponders, off-road cash

The Northern Gateway Toll Road (NGTR) tolling uses video tolling - no transponders or readers.

Initial toll rates are $1.20 (NZ$2) for cars and light commercial vehicles and $2.40 (NZ$4) for heavy vehicles. The threshold for heavy classification is is 3.5t (7720pds) gross vehicle weight.  Motorcycles are free.

Nice twin gantries over the mainline with tekkie catwalks deploy vehicle detection, vehicle classification and license plate reading cameras. Both front and rear images are gained of each vehicle passing under at normal highway speed in an open road setting with coverage of shoulders as well as travel lanes. License plate numbers are run against the national motor registry database to establish the name and address of the vehicle's owner.

A cash payment option is available at a kiosk in a pull-off parking lot for southbound motorists and at a BP gas station near the tollroad for northbound motorists (New Zealand drives on the leftside).

Toll accounts can be established online or by telephone providing vehicle information including license plate number and authority to debit a bank card. That is needed for the toll agency to top-up an account when a low balance is reached.

Occasional users can make one-off payments online, by telephone or at the offroad Cash Payment kiosks before or during their trip or up to three days after it. Up to ten trips can be prepaid.

Those not paying for a trip after 72 hours are liable for an administration fee on top of the toll.  Failure to pay that bill becomes a legal violation.

see wmv movie:

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/tollroad/gfx/toll-collection.wmv

(translation for Americans and Brits - 'pie' = pay and 'pyment' = payment, and New Zealanders like Australians also use the word 'toll' to mean road fatalities)

The Northern Gateway TR is now a project of the national government's New Zealand Transport Agency, a recent merger of two separate state agencies Land Transport NZ and Transit New Zealand.

Engineering was by URS Tonkin & Taylor, construction by Fulton Hogan and Leighton.

Toll system contractor was Kapsch which won a $6.4m (NZ$10.7m) contract with their video toll solution. (ADDITION)

Early on this project was known as ALPURT B2.

http://www.northerngateway.co.nz/

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/tollroad/index.html

2003 law made tolling possible

Tolling was made possible by the Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA).

Under the LTMA:

- tolls may be imposed for a new road or an existing road that is substantially improved

- toll revenues may only be used for the road on which they were levied

- there must be a 'feasible' alternative untolled route

- tolls must be ended when the roads original costs are paid for

- the toll road must be shown to have social, safety, environmental and economic benefits after study and public outreach

BACKGROUND: New Zealand located off the east coast of Australia (some 2000km off) has 4.3m people, the majority of whom live in the smaller warmer north island. About three-quarters of the population are descendants of British settlers and a quarter are Polynesians including the native Maori inhabitants. In the early days of British colonization New Zealand was administered as part of the Australian colony of New South Wales, but some think to its detriment, it became a separate 'dominion' in 1840, declined to join the Australian federation in 1901, and became fully independent of Britain in 1947.

Just as Canadians do to Americans, New Zealanders enjoy disparaging Australians. A New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon once famously declared in the New Zealand Parliament that the emigration of New Zealanders to Australia - called a 'brain drain' by some editorial writers - was mutually beneficial since it raised the average IQ of both countries.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-01-09