Grattan Institute’s potholes and pitfalls report: $1 billion funding hole

Researchers have identified a huge gap between the cost to maintain Australia’s “terrible” regional roads and what cash-strapped councils can afford.

Federal and state governments are being urged to step in and help fill the $1 billion gap that has formed between Australia’s “terrible” roads and what local councils can afford to maintain them.

To keep the nation’s roads at their current state, a $1 billion funding injection in the next year is required, a Grattan Institute study has found.

The Potholes and pitfalls: how to fix local roads report said the federal government only spent about $100 million on roads last year, favouring densely populated states with its funding arrangements.

“Taxpayers would get better bang for their buck if the federal government spent an extra $1 billion on improving our local roads rather than on building new megaprojects in the major cities,” report lead author and Grattan Institute transport and cities program director Marion Terrill said.

“What’s needed to put the road network on a better path is more funding better targeted at where it is needed most, and reforms to ensure that councils have the tools and time to fix the potholes and give their communities the roads they need.”

A pothole on the Bendigo-Pyramid Hill Rd, in central Victoria.

The report said local councils manage 77 per cent of the road network across Australia, but did not have a realistic way of raising the $1 billion required for road maintenance.

The report recommended an annual (indexed) increase of $1 billion in untied funding would be required, with about $600 million in federal assistance grants and about $400 million through Roads to Recovery.

Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark said they would lobby the federal government to adopt the Grattan Institute’s recommendations.

“Rural councils in Victoria have probably been lacking $3-$4 million in road maintenance funding each year for a significant period, and that was before the issues that came after the floods of last season,” Mr Clark said.

Mr Clark said a bulked up grants scheme would allow local councils to use untied spending where they needed it most, while the Roads to Recovery program could be used for strategic repairs and upgrades specific to each councils needs.