ROCKY ROADS
20 Nov 2012
Hundreds of council delegates at the ALGA 2012 National Local Roads and Transport Congress have raised concerns about local roads.
Hundreds of council delegates at the Australian Local Government Association's (ALGA) 2012 National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Hobart have raised concerns about the growing funding gap between what councils can afford to spend on local roads and what they need to spend to maintain community standards.
The Congress of delegates, who met to develop further strategies to manage council owned local infrastructure and maintain services at acceptable levels, heard that current federal expenditure would need to increase by an average of $1.2 billion per year to avoid deterioration of the local road network.
ALGA launched a national report to measure the standard of community roads and infrastructure, revealing that 12 per cent of local government transport assets are in poor or very poor condition.
Key findings of the National State of the Assets Report 2012, suggest that the current state of sealed roads presents the greatest challenge to councils, with more than $2 billion in value being regarded as poor or very poor in respect to quality and capacity.
In finalising outcomes from the Congress, delegates have:
• welcomed the extension of the Roads to Recovery program from 2014 to 2019;
• called on the Federal Government for increased and permanent funding under the Roads to Recovery program to close the recognised funding gap of $1.2 billion;
• welcomed the National State of the Assets Report 2012, which demonstrates how councils have improved the way they mange roads and infrastructure;
• re-affirmed their commitment to achieving best practice asset management and called on the Federal Government to continue to support councils.