RAA says condition of South Australia’s road network ‘becoming alarming’, calls for $1bn investment to tackle mounting maintenance backlog

Ahead of this week’s state budget, SA’s peak motoring lobby has unveiled its wishlist – and there’s some notoriously big jobs on it.

The condition of South Australia’s road network is “becoming alarming” and a $1bn investment is needed to tackle the mounting maintenance backlog, the state’s peak motoring body says.

Ahead of this week’s state budget, the RAA has called for “a huge infrastructure funding injection” of $1bn over four years to address the $2bn road maintenance backlog – which chief executive Nick Reade said was growing faster than roads were being fixed.

RAA chief executive Nick Reade. Picture: Supplied

He said the latest Auditor-General Report showed 20 per cent of South Australia’s 13,000km sealed road network was included in the maintenance backlog – which equates to more than 2500km of road in need of repair.

“That means our roads aren’t as safe as they should be, nor are they as productive as they could be from a freight productivity point of view,” he said.

As well as the $1bn commitment, the RAA – the state’s largest member-based organisation – is calling on the government to progress the duplication of the National Highways in South Australia, including Augusta, Dukes and Sturt Highways.

It is also pushing for the government to extend the Seaford rail line to Aldinga, and to commit to a $10m State Bicycle Fund each year.

Mr Reade said planning and funding for road and public transport projects was necessary to support the state’s growing population, which is expected to hit 2 million by 2031.

“The state government is rightly releasing more land to address the housing shortage – particularly in the north and south of Adelaide’s greater metropolitan area,” he said.

“In the upcoming state budget, we’d like to see progress for projects that will help ease congestion on our roads and support this housing and population growth.”

He said there will be about an extra 150,000 people living in South Australia within the next seven years, according to the government’s population projections.

“Without the right road and public transport upgrades, we’ll have more congestion, increased travel times and we’ll be further compromising road safety,” he said.

A state government spokesman said the government has already committed a record $21bn in infrastructure investment over the next four years – including around $2bn on our regional roads.

“That includes funding towards the T2D Project to complete the North-South Corridor, creating 78km of non-stop, traffic light-free motorway between Gawler and Old Noarlunga – a project that will be a game-changer for alleviating congestion across the entire metropolitan network,” he said.

He said the government continues to partner with local councils on the State Bicycle Fund, which provides dollar-for-dollar contributions to councils towards cycling infrastructure.

The government is also preserving a corridor of land for a potential future extension of the Gawler and Seaford line ensures that there are long-term options for expanding public transport in South Australia in the future.

“We are currently undertaking a suite of planning studies into future infrastructure solutions across Adelaide and the broader state,” he said.