Road construction and maintenance work done regained strength and momentum in 2021/22 and 2022/23 after two years of declines (from 2018/19 to 2019/20 inclusive) and a year of marginal growth (2020/21). A large upturn, across all states began in 2021/22 marking the beginning of this upswing cycle. This growth momentum persisted in 2022/23 and we expect a peak around 2025/26 and 2026/27, driven by a significant rise in construction.

The volume of road and bridge work is expected to stay elevated over the next three years to 2025/26, resulting from:

• A collection of big capital city projects across all states,
• A ramping-up of urban renewal, maintenance and improvement programs, including arterial road upgrades,
• An increase in road maintenance works, mainly due to the damage to roads caused by unusually high rainfall during 2022,
• The reaching of capacity limits at major airports, leading to new runway projects and a new airport in Sydney, and
• A general improvement, on a less splashy scale, of regional works (including ongoing, large-scale upgrades on the Bruce, Pacific, and Princes Highways).

This report provides a concise explanation of the outlook for the various construction and maintenance segments in roads and bridges. It provides a fully revised set of forecasts, and corresponding project list, for all road and bridge segments looking ahead ten years.