The NRMA has today launched its Rate Your Road survey, with the organisation calling on ACT residents to vote for their worst – and best – roads.
Following months of wet weather opening up countless potholes, Canberra and its surrounds recorded a 55 per cent increase in wheel and tyre related damage between July and November, compared with 2021.
The NRMA is urging the public to complete its survey at rateyourroad.com.au to better identify the roads that need critical attention.
Voting is easy and takes only a couple of minutes. The survey is accessible on smartphones and desktop and voting will remain open until mid-February 2023, with the results to be released prior to the March 2023 NSW Election.
The NRMA has welcomed the ACT Government’s recent announcement of an increase in funding for road maintenance in the territory.
Surrounding areas outside the ACT also require urgent funding, with NRMA’s Fix Our Broken Roads report today revealing a $47 million backlog of funding needed by local councils to maintain local roads. The NSW-wide backlog is sitting at $1.9 billion.
Within Capital Country, the Upper Lachlan Shire carried the heaviest burden with a $26 million backlog while Goulburn Mulwaree recorded an almost $9 million backlog.
The NRMA is warning NSW’s startling backlog figure is expected to blow out even further this year due to flooding. Early indications suggest the 2022 figure will dwarf the $1.9 billion total as councils begin to report the extent of damage caused by the heavy flooding over the last 12 months.
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said the alarming backlog of funding was only going to get worse as regional councils begin to measure the true impact of the devastating floods on the road network and the growing financial burden to rebuild.
“The NRMA has an almighty job on its hands over the next year fighting to get the funding councils need to fix our 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,” Mr Khoury said.
“Having your say in our Rate Your Road 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 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.
