A new report by the NRMA has revealed a $253.2 million backlog of funding needed by councils in the Hunter and Central Coast to maintain local roads, as part of a statewide backlog of $1.9 billion for 2020/21.
The backlog was more than $206 million in the Hunter and $46.8 million on the Central Coast for the 12-month period.
Maitland City Council carried the heaviest burden with a $78.9 million backlog.
The NRMA released its report on Tuesday, the same day it launched its Rate Your Road online survey. The survey will be open until mid-February and the results will be released before the NSW election next March.
The NRMA is warning the state's startling backlog figure is expected to blow out even further this year due to flooding.
Early indications suggest the 2022 figure will dwarf the $1.9 billion total as councils begin to report the extent of damage caused by the heavy flooding over the past 12 months.
The regional backlog in 2020/21 was $1.5 billion.
The 2021/22 backlog is already at $1.1 billion with only 60 per cent of regional councils having reported so far.
Statewide, the Fix Our Broken Roads report identified a $1.9 billion backlog of funding needed by the state's 128 councils in 2020/21 to maintain roads to a safe standard, of which $1.5 billion was from regional councils.
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said the alarming backlog was only going to get worse as regional councils begin to measure the true impact of the devastating floods on the road network and the growing financial burden to rebuild.
"The NRMA has an almighty job on its hands over the next year fighting to get the funding councils need to fix our flood ravaged, potholed littered road network," Mr Khoury said.
"That's why we want the community to tell us where the worst roads are through our Rate Your Road survey.
"Having your say in our Rate Your Road survey can make a huge difference.
"The 2019 survey received a record number of votes and that data helped the NRMA secure record road funding from the NSW and Australian governments to support local councils."
