It should come as no surprise to anyone, driving on our roads is about to get more expensive.

Simeon Brown's come out this afternoon and whacked tolls on 3 new highways or expressways.

Otaki to north of Levin -  $2.70 for a car. $5.40 for a truck.

Takitimu North Link - that's the Tauranga to Te Puna. 4 lanes. $2.10 off peak. $3.10 peak. Double that for trucks.

Penlink in Auckland - $2 off peak. $3 peak. Again.... trucks double.

These prices will increase with inflation.

This does not bother me at all, in fact, I welcome it.

If we keep relying on governments to fund infrastructure off their balance sheet with borrowing, we'll keep getting the same woeful results we have thus far.

Roads that are shoddy and unsafe.

Roads that aren't big enough or wide enough.

And not enough roads being built to drive regional economic growth.

The last government cancelled a bunch of RONS and put some of that money into public transport instead.

Hopefully if a road has a toll attached to it it'll be harder to justify them doing that when they get it next time.

What we don't yet know is whether existing roads will be tolled, which I don't think is a fair thing to do.

The government has changed the rules to allow tolling of existing roads if a new corridor or extension is being added.

But it hasn't yet been specific - does that mean the whole road or just the new bit.

They need to clarify that cause it's hardly fair if you've bought a house and commute you ran your sums on the basis it wasn't tolled... if they turn round and whack you with a charge then that's not on.

On the whole I say build the roads. We'll pay for them. Just get it done.