The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has called for strong financial and policy support from the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to make the necessary investments in the local roads network at the 2014 National Local Roads and Transport Congress.
Newly elected ALGA President Mayor Troy Pickard said that while $7.5 billion per annum is spent on the local road component of the national network, it is not enough to meet the infrastructure backlog.
“Local roads are a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure that contributes significantly to national productivity by linking points of production, processing and export.”
Mayor Pickard, attending the Roads Congress as his first official duty as ALGA president, said the Federal Government has highlighted the need for Australia to face up to the productivity challenge.
“Our Congress in Tamworth has highlighted that local roads are critical to meeting the productivity challenge and they must be adequately funded at the national level.
“The way we fund our roads must change so that there is a better alignment between the needs of road users and the funding available to councils.
“The release of the State of the Local Road Assets Report highlights the scale of current under investment in local roads, with 11 percent of local roads and one in five timber bridges in a poor or very poor condition.”
The 2014 Report includes data from 396 councils, from across Australia, or 70 percent of all councils and these councils are managing almost $105 billion in roads and bridges.
Both urban and rural councils contributed.
The report has found that around 10 percent of all sealed roads are in a poor to very poor state, and a similar situation exists for unsealed roads while councils are facing a substantial challenge in addressing the condition of bridges under their management.
Urban councils report that 23 percent of their timber bridges, and 21 percent of rural councils timber bridges, are in a poor or very poor condition.
Councils have called upon the Commonwealth and state/territory governments for support in achieving an appropriate balance between providing access to local roads for heavy vehicles, while preserving the asset for all users.
The ALGA has said it will continue to work in partnership and collaboration with the Federal Government and other important stakeholders to address the road funding challenges.
“The Government has stressed that all of the additional revenue raised from the increased fuel excise will go to roads, some of those funds need to flow onto our local road network,” said Mayor Pickard.
“On behalf of local government I will be actively seeking opportunities to engage the Treasurer, reinforcing Minister Truss’ advocacy, to highlight the national benefit of increased investment in local roads and the risk of these benefits not being realized because of the ongoing revenue constraints faced by councils.”
