AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT FINDS NSW ROADS SLOW AND POORLY MAINTAINED

Motorists in NSW are being made to sit in traffic for longer on roads that are in desperate need of maintenance and repairs.

The latest transport report published by the NSW Auditor General highlighted the poor state of NSW roads with an enormous backlog of maintenance projects and average travel speeds continuing to decline.

The backlog in maintenance works to be undertaken by the Roads and Maritime Services has almost doubled from $2.7 billion in 2012-13 to $5.3 billion in 2014-15.

$5.3 billion is the equivalent of 3.5 million concrete trucks.

Meanwhile, the average travel time in afternoon peak hour traffic now forces commuters to sit in afternoon traffic for 103 seconds to move just one kilometer – up from 96 seconds in 2012-13.

Average travel time in the morning peak also increased from 93 seconds per kilometer to 95 seconds.

Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Jodi McKay   

“Five billion dollars is a lot of potholes and cracked footpaths that need to be repaired.”

“Motorists are spending more time stuck in traffic on potholed roads than they should be.”

“The Baird Government needs to get into first gear and start tackling the maintenance backlog.”

“The backlog has doubled in three years under the Liberal and National Government. It’s clear the Government is failing to keep up and has no plan to catch up.”