Road roughness

Explore which areas of the network are heavily utilised and so might experience more wear and tear, and which locations have roads with rougher pavement surfaces than others.  

The condition of roads has a significant impact on road safety. Higher road quality means a smoother travel experience for all road users, and can translate to benefits in fuel consumption, tyre wear, maintenance costs and increases in travel time reliability. Conversely, the deterioration of pavement surfaces leads to rougher roads, which can make it difficult for drivers to safely control their vehicles, increasing the prevalence of crashes and levels of road trauma. 

Understanding the roughness score of road segments gives road managers an insight into the condition of road routes across Australia. In conjunction with traffic, crash and safety data, roughness information can be valuable in helping decision-makers identify areas of the network which should be prioritised and improved to better national road safety outcomes.   

About the data 

This interactive map provides insights and greater transparency into road roughness using International Roughness Index (IRI) data obtained under the Heavy Vehicle Road Reform Asset Registers collection. The road Asset Registers provide detailed information on the dimensions, construction and condition of each 100m segment of road, as well as the traffic (heavy vehicles and total traffic) measured along each segment. 

The National Freight Data Hub (NFDH) are working with jurisdictions to improve and update this dataset as part of their Roads Data Project(Opens in a new tab/window) and National Service Level Standards for Roads(Opens in a new tab/window). 

Road condition data is currently reported only for 2017 and 2018. 

Download data

• Freight Asset Registers(Opens in a new tab/window)

Limitations 

The coverage of roads in each jurisdiction may not be consistent across years – in particular, more roads were added to the dataset by the Northern Territory and South Australia in 2018.  

There is no data available for Victoria for 2018.