Australian road track cost recovery: some recent findings

Abstract

This paper presents a review of the various Australian estimates of attributable heavy vehicle road track costs and the variables used to allocate them. The most recent attributable cost estimates are the basis for allocating attributable road track costs to heavy vehicles in a uniform national road user charging scheme on Australia's arterial roads. This scheme is currently based on a conventional pay‐as‐you‐go (PAYGO) road track cost recovery process. The level of the road track costs attributable to the heavy vehicles under this scheme was found to be relatively low, by international standards. The practical outcomes of these results are discussed in the context of Australia's road track cost recovery reform. Broad recommendations about using variable heavy vehicle charges and life‐cycle costing to improve pricing signals are made as possible reform measures to follow the implementation of the uniform national road user charging scheme.