The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport has tabled the report for its ‘inquiry into the implications of severe weather events on the national regional, rural, and remote road network’.
Roads Australia (RA) made a submission to the inquiry earlier in the year before appearing in front of the committee at a public hearing in Canberra to discuss recommendations in further detail.
RA’s submission focused on building resilience across the regional road network, alongside a fresh approach to road planning, design and maintenance.
Following the Federal Government’s Infrastructure Investment Program Strategic Review, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King, announced a boost in funding for the Roads to Recovery Program, providing local councils with increased support to manage their regional road networks.
The 26 recommendations made by the Committee complement this announcement and the aim to build nationally resilient road infrastructure, headlined by key recommendations including:
- collaboration across all levels of government to develop road asset infrastructure resilience guidelines, planning and investment frameworks, and address existing road asset data gaps
- engagement across all levels of government, the scientific community, and industry to revise national road design and construction standards and incorporate innovative and recycled road materials and technologies
- a review of local government funding allocation to support asset maintenance works under the Australian Government’s Infrastructure Investment Program
- consider the distribution of local government Financial Assistance Grant program road component funding
- an assessment of betterment access and claims approvals under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, and
- embedding resilience design and construction procurement requirements under the new Federation Funding Agreements on transport infrastructure.
View further information about the report here.