Main Roads WA says it will take up to ten years to tackle its road maintenance backlog.

The department has spoken to a federal parliamentary committee investigating the impact of severe weather on Australia's remote road network.

Brett Belstead, the regional operations director of Main Roads WA, said; “It'd be a five-to-ten-year exercise just to catch up, just with resourcing”. 

The backlog is estimated to cost over $350 million.

The crux of the issue, as indicated by Belstead, mainly involves “about $100 million of resurfacing and maybe a quarter of a billion dollars of pavement rehabilitation”.

The agency lacks both sufficient contractors and labour to expedite these repairs.

“The impact of COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions had presented challenges in recent years including rising costs, and a shortage of resources and materials,” the department said in a statement to reporters. 

The challenges only compounded this year due to “unprecedented and unseasonal weather events and increased freight”.

Drivers say subpar road conditions could be a catalyst for serious accidents. 

Accidents have occurred due to compromised road conditions, including the presence of dangerous drop-offs along roadsides, leading to alarming rates of rollovers for road trains and large trucks.