There is a $46.8M backlog of funding needed to maintain Central Coast roads, according to statistics revealed this week by the NRMA.
The figures, for 2020-2021, reveal a $1.9B backlog state-wide in funding needed by council to maintain roads to a safe standard.
The NRMA says the figures are expected to blow out even further this year due to flooding.
“Early indications suggest the 2022 figure will dwarf the $1.9B total as councils begin to report the extent of damage caused by the heavy flooding over the last 12 months,” spokesperson Peter Khoury said.
“The regional backlog in 2020/21 was $1.5B.
“Worryingly, the 2021/22 backlog is already at $1.1B with only 60 per cent% of regional councils reporting thus far.”
Khoury said the NRMA had an “almighty job” on its hands over the next year fighting to get the funding councils need to fix a “flood ravaged, potholed littered road network”.
“That’s why we want the community to tell us where the worst roads are through our Rate Your Road survey,” he said.
“Having your say in our survey can make a huge difference – the 2019 survey received a record number of votes and that data helped the NRMA secure record road funding from the NSW and Australian Governments to support local councils.”
The NRMA’s Fix Our Broken Roads report calls for more funding to support councils through a streamlined process, the adoption of new standards and materials when fixing roads to ensure roads are more resilient to damage, and a technology-driven audit of the entire road network to support targeted future upgrades and evidence-based, predictive maintenance.
Residents of NSW and the ACT can take part in the Rate Your Road survey by visiting www.rateyourroad.com.au.
Voting takes only a couple of minutes on a smartphone or desktop and voting will remain open until mid-February 2023.
The results will be released prior to the March 2023 NSW Election.
Central Coast Council CEO David Farmer said what was needed from government was not a “sugar fix” for one year but a sustained program of investment.
Farmer said Council’s immediate focus was on heavily used and high speed roads but the basic problem region-wide was that the underlying standard of infrastructure is poor.
He said not only did roads need repair, but drainage needed to be addressed to keep the water off them.
“Heavy patching to deal with the worst areas will last several years but the real answer is significant road reconstruction,” he said.
Farmer said an “extraordinarily wet year” had exacerbated the region’s road problems.
“We have to rebuild our roads to higher standards and maintain them and that will take years,” he said.
“There is a long way to go to get to where the community would like us to be but we will get there.”
Verified sources: Interview David Farmer, CEO Central Coast Council & Media release, Dec 13, 2022, NRMA