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Story: Roads

Taranaki toll gate

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Taranaki toll gate

Two cars and a motorcycle with a sidecar pause at a toll gate at Waipuku in Taranaki in the 1920s. By 1935 Taranaki had over 500 kilometres of sealed road, a legacy of the toll gates which were common in the area. Unlike other provinces that relied on road boards levying ratepayers, Taranaki with its toll gates collected enough revenue to improve roads.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-048419; G

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Roads – Funding road construction, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/23314/taranaki-toll-gate (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2010, updated 1 March 2016.