THE toll for the $1.5 billion Legacy Way tunnel has been set at $4.85.

A discount period will apply until May next year, but unlike other tunnels in Brisbane a toll free period has not been announced.

From its opening in late June the toll will be set at $3, before increasing to $3.90 from November 16.

It will reach $4.85 from May 2016.

Despite criticism of toll prices in Brisbane, Legacy Way’s toll operator Transurban has defended the price.

Transurban Group general manager Wes Ballantine said motorists would avoid seven sets of traffic lights by using the tunnel, which connects the Western Freeway at Toowong to Kelvin Grove.

“I’m confident motorists, with the benefit of the discounted toll period, will embrace the indisputable timesaving benefits travelling via Legacy Way will deliver,” he said.

The upper limit of tolls in Queensland is set by the State Government, but Transurban sets it within that.

Transurban has predicted the tunnel will get about 16,000 vehicle trips per day, while the Brisbane City Council has estimated it will be closer to 24,000 trips per day.

The cost of tolls in Brisbane has been repeatedly criticised by groups such as the RACQ and blamed for much lower than predicted usage in the Airport Link and Clem7 tunnels.

An average of 26,325 vehicles a day used the Clem7 over the December quarter, while initial estimates projected the tunnel would carry 116,384 each day by 2016, while the Airport Link has about 50,000 users each day, instead of the predicted 190,000.

Transurban owns tolling rights including to Legacy Way, Clem7, Logan Motorway, Gateway Motorway and the Go Between Bridge.