Tauranga City could be stuck with a toll on Takitimu Drive for another 20 years, according to the NZTA.

But concerned resident Paul Anselmi says the toll road is a scam and it should be taken off sooner.

Paul wants to know why Tauranga is the only city in the country where its main road into the CBD/port is a toll road.

'We need to do our best as a city to take the toll off.”

State Highway 29/Takitimu Drive is the quickest and easiest way for heavy vehicles and haulage trucks to get to the Port of Tauranga, if they have travelled over the Kaimai Range, but each trip they take on Takitimu Drive, they get stung $5 each way.

Paul says if they put a toll road on the main route to the Auckland port or the main stretch of road into Wellington and no one would be happy. So why is Tauranga being singled out?

SunLive put these questions to the New Zealand Transport Agency, along with asking if there is a time frame for when the toll would be taken off.

'The Transport Agency sets the toll prices for all three toll roads. As soon as the costs are repaid, the toll will be removed,” says a spokesperson for NZTA.

'The estimated year when the debt will be fully paid for each of the toll roads is:

-Northern Gateway by 2045

-Tauranga Eastern Link by 2044

-Takitimu Drive – the $65 million paid to Tauranga City Council will be recovered by 2041.”