Reforming remote and regional road funding in Australia

This report examines the current funding and financing arrangements for regional and remote roads in Australia and considers the implications of road funding reforms. The project was undertaken in three stages: Stage 1 developed a snap shot of current and historic road related revenue, expenditure and funding in Australia Stage 2 assessed the limitations of current funding arrangements for remote and regional roads, highlighted by a number of case studies Stage 3 analysed a number of alternative remote and regional road funding options. The project considered the practice of economic evaluations as applied to remote and regional roads, and the implications of possible heavy vehicle charging reform for regional and remote road funding. Two broad categories of alternative funding options were considered: improving the targeting of road charging to the ultimate beneficiaries of remote and regional roads; and introducing dedicated funding for remote and regional roads. Policy options that could be introduced as part of a direct user charging reform, to address likely revenue insufficiency problems for remote and regional roads