The often poor state of the Northern Territory’s remote road system has long been the subject of fierce criticism from truckers and grey nomads alike … but are tolls the solution?
In the context of NT Chief Minister Adam Giles’ comments last year that the Territory’s infrastructure lagged ‘150 years behind the rest of Australia’, the extra roads funding offered in the Federal Budget may seem like a drop in the bucket.
The Northern Territory will receive $77 million over four years to upgrade and improve its roads, including $10 million in 2016/17 to upgrade the Little Horse and Big Horse Creek bridges on the Victoria Highway.
However, the Territory and its roads network is vast. According to the NT News, the Territory has 35,725 kilometres of road and just 25% is sealed. Countries like Botswana, Togo, Senegal, Tonga, Suriname and Afghanistan have a higher percentage of bitumen.
NT Transport Minister Peter Chandler described the NT’s position alongside underdeveloped nations in terms of roads as ‘absolutely’ embarrassing.
He told the NT News that the ‘Developing the North’ white paper would be left on the shelf if the Federal Government didn’t “put the money behind the paper”.
“If you’ve got vision for the north, then you’ve got to put in the infrastructure,” he said. “Modelling used in Canberra will not work in the NT … you can’t look at the Tanami as just a road.”
Unique problems need unique solutions … and Jack Archer, the chief executive of independent think tank the Regional Australia Institute, reckons a ‘user pays’ model could be the way forward.
He believed regional areas should back the implementation of ‘road user charges’ that would scrap road-based taxes like the fuel excise and registration fees. Instead, he told the NT News that drivers would be charged based on kilometres travelled and the money spent on the roads each motorist drives on.
In what will come as a relief to grey nomads about to clock up a few thousand kilometres in the Outback, Mr Archer said there would need to be a mechanism to recognise the value of remote areas which had low traffic volumes but where road projects had broader economic benefits.
“This has to be better than the current situation where excise and other road taxes flow into general revenue and are available to be spent anywhere in the network, or not on roads at all,” he told the NT News.
* Would you pay a road toll to travel on a fully bitumened Tanami Track or Birdsville Track or Old Telegraph Track? Do you think ‘user pays’ is the way to go? Comment below
If they tar iconic tracks like the old tele track or the Birdsville track I might as well stay at home,they will take all the adventure out of it.
I wont be payin a road toll
The outback roads should be graded a couple of times a year. Other than that leave them alone. That is the lure of all the outback roads.
4X4 people use them all for recreation and leave the bitumen roads for the caravan and family tourists.
We don’t have a 4WD, so it would be lovely to see much more of our beautiful country. Yes, I would pay a toll to travel along these roads, after all, Oz is for everyone.