A recent Four Corners episode highlights the spiralling costs of toll roads in Australia’s major cities.

For many Australians, especially those on low or fixed incomes, these costs are overwhelming. While Four Corners shows the financial burden of tolls, it overlooks a deeper issue: Australia’s flawed transport funding system, which creates inefficiencies and deepens inequalities across our road networks.

Toll roads place an arbitrary burden on motorists based on geography. Population growth has caused chronic congestion, forcing many city dwellers to use toll roads during peak hours. This splits drivers into two classes. Both pay for roads through general taxes like registration, petrol excise, and GST, but only those near tolled routes bear the extra financial load.

The numbers reveal the disparity. According to the Australian Automobile Association’s Affordability Index (2023), the average toll-paying household in capital cities spent $66.19 weekly on tolls, while the national average was $13.24. This stark contrast reveals users pay not based on road quality, but on where they live. The principle of public roads being accessible to all erodes when tolls become unavoidable for some and unnecessary for others.

Australia’s toll roads were introduced in the 1980s as part of a shift towards public-private partnerships (PPPs). Private operators were awarded concession periods of up to 30 years, much longer than global norms. The idea was for the private sector to fund essential infrastructure while providing modern roads.

As these concessions expired, governments extended or resold toll collection rights, rather than removing them. The original rationale of tolls funding road construction has disappeared. Motorists now pay for an asset already funded, effectively a stealth tax used for unrelated government projects, leaving drivers with no recourse.

Historically, tolls on infrastructure like the Sydney Harbour Bridge were introduced to fund construction. But toll increases were politically sensitive, aligned with wage growth and inflation. Today’s private operators face no such limits, leading to frequent hikes and increasing strain on drivers.

The shift to PPPs in the 1980s and 1990s was initially seen as smart: governments could fund infrastructure without overburdening their budgets, while private operators took on the financial risk. Toll roads were marketed as “congestion busters,” promising motorists time savings.

Instead, we’ve created private monopolies over essential infrastructure. These companies are motivated to maximise revenue, not public value. With rising prices and persistent urban congestion, this model’s inefficiency is clear.

Research shows that building more roads only temporarily alleviates congestion. Increasing capacity to encourage more drivers means time-saving promises of new toll roads often vanish in a few years – a global pattern Australia is slow to learn.

Australia spends 1.8% of GDP on road construction, the highest in the OECD. Yet commuters spend more time in traffic than US and European Counterparts. While toll operators profit enormously, society bears the costs: longer commutes, accidents, pollution, and urban sprawl.

This roadbuilding obsession has come at the expense of more efficient solutions like public transport and better urban planning. Other OECD countries invest heavily in rail systems, bicycle infrastructure, and pedestrian-friendly cities, but Australian cities remain trapped in a cycle of road expansion. This reliance on cars contributes to rising crash rates and declining public health.

The good news is that solutions to our problems are not only possible, but also cheaper than the status quo. Many OECD nations manage urban transport systems more effectively by balancing public and private investments while prioritising public benefit. They rely on demand management (like congestion pricing) and invest more in public and active transport.

Australia should rethink its reliance on PPPs, which tie project selection to private financing rather than public need. By moving away from a model that rewards toll franchises, governments can regain control of transport priorities and ensure projects are chosen based on societal benefits, not investor appeal.

The toll road dilemma has festered for decades, considered politically difficult. But with rising populations, stagnant productivity, and declining petrol tax revenues, change is inevitable. Governments must act now to reform transport funding, prioritise public benefit, and break the private monopoly over our roads.

Ultimately, the road less travelled—public transport, active infrastructure, and smarter urban planning—offers a way out of our toll road trap. The question is whether political leaders have the will to take it.

Dr Scott Elaurant – Engineers Australia Transport Australia Society Chair – is a principal consultant with 34 years’ experience in infrastructure planning, transport planning, road design and economics