November 11, 2016
Councils have renewed their calls to the Federal Government for action on freight bottlenecks on local roads and are seeking $200 million per year for five years to address the issue.
Speaking at the National Local Roads and Transport Congress currently being held in Toowoomba, Australian Local Government Association president David O’Loughlin said the funding would help bring local road networks up to scratch to more effectively move freight and boost transport productivity.
“The majority of local roads were originally designed and built decades ago. Although they’re not of horse-and-cart standard, they certainly weren’t built for some of the higher productivity vehicles that are on the roads today,” Mayor O’Loughlin said.
“ALGA’s latest State of the Assets report estimates that it would cost in the order of $19.3 billion to fix all of the substandard roads across the local road network. That is just to restore them – not improve them to the higher standards that are required by many of today’s trucks.
“Despite Councils’ hard work and continued spending, without a major upgrade on local and regional freight routes, many of these roads are unlikely to ever be fit for purpose.
“For trucks, this means limited access and lower productivity, which will only get worse with the freight task expected to double by 2030 and treble by 2050. As a nation, we must come up with an effective strategy to address this problem.”
