A report from the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) has found New South Wales roads are facing a funding backlog of almost $2 billion and the Association has called for road funding reform.
The Funding Local Roads report found the councils with the largest individual road infrastructure backlog are Wollondilly Council at $42.5 million, Blacktown Council with $42.4 million and Bankstown Council with $42.2 million.
“Local councils have a tough job maintaining local roads with insufficient funds to cover basic road maintenance such as fixing potholes, gutter repair and repainting faded lines,” said NRMA Regional Director Fiona Simson.
She warned that the lack of a long-term solution would mean a worsening road network and road safety across New South Wales.
“Increasing local roads funding will benefit the broader community, as crashes on local roads represent 75 per cent of the $7.1 billion annual cost of crashes to the NSW economy.”
Mayor of Wollondilly Judith Hannan said her council area – located southwest of Greater Sydney – has had to increase rates to cover the road funding backlog.
“With over 840 kilometres of roads to maintain, Council needed to implement a responsible long-term financial plan that could address Wollondilly’s growing infrastructure backlog.
“In July 2015, our Special Rate Variation (SRV) came into play, with a 10.8 per cent p.a. increase in rates over four years.
“This was a tough decision for Council to make but absolutely necessary and the additional funds generated by the SRV are being invested directly back into our Infrastructure Assets, a majority of which is for the purpose of renewing our roads.”
Mayor of Blacktown in Sydney’s western suburbs, Stephen Bali, said the New South Wales Government needs to take more responsibility on the issue.
“The NSW government puts a choke on income, has its own backlog of state-owned roads that it is not maintaining and, as the NRMA rightly says, is shirking its funding responsibility across the state.
“Blacktown City Council has managed to reduce its backlog by 17 per cent – one of the best results in the metropolitan area – but at a cost to other areas of operation.
The NRMA report warned that the problem would only increase as the State’s population continues to rise.
Mayor Bali called for a review of the State’s road funding.
“There needs to be a major road-needs audit which properly addresses how we best keep up with Sydney’s rapidly growing population as it approaches 8 million people,” he said.
