The road component of the National Land Transport Network (NLTN) in Queensland has a significant maintenance and rehabilitation backlog. The poor condition of roads has increased costs to communities and the freight industry by increasing travel times, creating safety risks and reducing network resilience.
As at 30 June 2022, the NLTN in Queensland is made up of 5,052 km of roads, 1,002 bridges and 1,285 major culverts, and carries almost half of all traffic travelling on Queensland’s state-controlled road network.
The Queensland Government has identified some 885 km of the network as ‘high priority’ for maintenance or rehabilitation. Approximately 340 km of pavements and structures urgently require programmed maintenance, while 546 km require rehabilitation.
The Queensland Government expects the cost of restoring these assets to rise significantly if not addressed in the foreseeable future.
This proposal is complementary to the Early-Stage Proposal for a National road maintenance backlog, which identifies road maintenance issues for national, state and local roads across Australia.
The proposal is for a structured program approach to addressing the maintenance backlog for the NLTN in Queensland. It is likely to include:
- programmed maintenance, such as replacing road surfaces
- pavement rehabilitation
- bridge and culvert rehabilitation.
Proponent to identify and analyse potential investment options (Stage 2 of Infrastructure Australia’s Assessment Framework).