Cwth tips $150m into program to fix remote gravel roads

Councils will be offered between 80 and 100 percent of funding to upgrade unsealed roads in a new federal program unveiled this week.

The $150 million Remote Roads Upgrade Pilot Program will target safety on unsealed roads, including resurfacing, removing dangerous corners, and managing vegetation.

The focus will be on unsealed roads more than 20km long.

The federal Department of Transport, Infrastructure, Regional Development and Communications Government will work with local councils and state and territory jurisdictions to identify potential projects for funding.

Federal Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister [and acting Prime Minister] Barnaby Joyce said of the new commitment that “This is not about sealing roads; it is about making them safer.

“It is about putting down gravel to stop parents getting bogged in the rain when they drive their kids to school; it is about removing dangerous corners.

“Many of these remote roads haven’t been touched since the Great Depression,” he added.

The guidelines for the new program will be released by the end of the year.