The Commonwealth government should step up and provide more funding to seal rural roads in the ACT, the territory's Transport Minister said at a sod turning to mark the start of a jointly funded upgrade project on the Monaro Highway.
Chris Steel said he had raised the issue of the ACT's unsealed rural roads with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, and called on the federal government to provide 80 per cent of the money needed to upgrade the routes.
"The federal government counts them as being urban roads. Roads like Boboyan Road, for example; Smiths Road, Brindabella Road. These deserve their full fair share of funding and we think the federal government should step up with 80 per cent funding for those roads, just like they're funded in NSW. So we'll be having that conversation going forward," Mr Steel said.
Mr Steel made the comments at an event to mark the start of early works as part of a $230.5 million upgrade to the Monaro Highway, which includes $115.25 million of federal funding.
The minister said the ACT government would seek funding commitments for the territory from both major parties in the lead up to the federal election.
Early works on the Monaro Highway upgrade are not expected to create delays on the road, and will prepare the area for the first stage of the project, which includes a southbound flyover over Lanyon Drive, traffic light removal and intersection upgrades.
ACT Liberal Senator Zed Seselja, who turned the sod on the works with Mr Steel, said the Commonwealth was making record investments in territory infrastructure.
"We've never seen this type of investment, at least not since self government, from the Commonwealth government, that's indisputable," Senator Seselja said.
Senator Seselja said he thought there was a conversation to be had about federal funding for rural road upgrades in the ACT, and that he had had discussions with Mr Joyce about the issue.
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"I know that Boboyan Road is something that the Deputy Prime Minister has turned his mind to, and I would certainly make the argument that, yes, I think joint investments in those type of roads is a positive," he said.
"Boboyan Road is obviously one of those, from a bushfire risk perspective, important that we make sure it's as accessible as possible. We saw obviously those bushfires a couple of years ago in the region.
"But also, I think, as we see the growth of the Snowy region, with things like Snowy 2.0. It is an alternate route to the snow and I think over time it'd be great to see it upgraded. I think there's a discussion to be had between the Commonwealth and the ACT government."
The federal government in December 2021 announced $5 million for Boboyan Road as part of a $75 million commitment to fast tracking safety upgrades across a number of southern ACT roads.
The Boboyan Road User Group criticised Mr Steel last month for being "completely unwilling to discuss legitimate road safety issues".
