Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Submissions on tolling the replacement gorge road have now closed, but Woodville residents are refusing to give up fighting.
Under the current proposal, those driving between Palmerston North and Woodville in a light vehicle could pay $4.30 per trip, $8.60 for a return - and up to $17.20 for heavy vehicles.
The former State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge closed in 2017 due to rockfall.
Modelling forecasts 10,902 vehicles a day using the new road in 2025, rising to 14,250 a day in 2048 - above the 10,000 threshold required to justify tolling under New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) criteria.
The cost of the 11.5 kilometre highway over the Ruahine Range was originally expected to cost $620 million, but that has since blown out to $824.1m - prompting the addition of tolls.
Submissions on the road have closed, but Woodville resident Vicky Tomlinson said they would keep fighting against the tolls.
"We want our voice heard. You know, we've got a strong feeling in the community. We're a bit apprehensive, but we're still staying positive," she told Midday Report.
"No one wants this toll. No one in our district, our region. We've got great support over the Lower North Island. We just don't want this toll. It's not fair on residents.
"I think this current government is just money-hungry and you know, they've kicked us in the guts with this proposal just to try and get more money. This is a replacement road - it's not a nice-to-have new highway like others around the country."
Local councils have backed the campaign against tolling.
"Virtually all of the lower North Island councils are against this toll because of the horrendous hardship that will put on people who are already in a, you know, crisis of living, cost of living crisis."
A slip on the old road in 2017 saw it closed. Photo: Supplied / NZTA
She said some of those who took part in a protest march against the tolling were "life-long National Party members".
"They will not be supporting National going forward if this toll goes ahead. So that's how deep the feeling is.
"So we will just be making that feeling heard time and time again."
NZTA last week said the agency's board would consider public consultation and technical assessments when making a decision.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown in September blamed the cost blowout on "the high inflationary environment, supply chain issues, and the previous government's late addition of a shared user path across the length of the project".
"This affected the Parahaki River Bridge design, increasing the complexity and cost of the structure."
The initial design for the road did not include this path, but it was added by the NZTA.
