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Who we are and what we do
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Blueprint - the RTA Corporate Plan

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Who we are and what we do

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RTA - Who we are and what we do

The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) was established on 16 January 1989, under the Transport Administration Act 1988 through an amalgamation of the former Department of Main Roads, Department of Motor Transport and the Traffic Authority.

The people and Government of NSW expect the RTA to manage the roads and traffic system of NSW, in conjunction with state and local government agencies.

The RTA at a glance

Responsibilities

  • Managing the road network to achieve consistent travel times.
  • Providing road capacity and maintenance solutions.
  • Testing and licensing drivers and registering and inspecting vehicles.
  • Improving road safety.

Assets

  • 17,912 km of State Roads and management of 4,268 km of National Highways and nearly 2,946 km of Regional Roads and Local Roads.
  • Various roundabouts, signs and line markings
  • 4,998 bridges including major culverts
  • 3,630 traffic signal sites
  • Nine vehicular ferries
  • Road tunnels
  • Property, plant, equipment, private sector provided infrastructure and other non-current assets are worth $73 billion.This includes RTA-managed infrastructure with a written down value of more than $69 billion.

Funding

  • $3.2 billion including State and Commonwealth contributions and road user charges.
  • The RTA provides financial assistance to local councils to manage 18,474 km of Regional Roads and to a lesser extent, Local Roads.

Our people

  • As of 30 June 2007, we employed the equivalent of 6,924 full-time staff.

Offices

  • We have more than 180 offices across NSW, including 129 motor registries.

Customers and partners

RTA customers and stakeholders include individuals, private organisations, our staff, community and road transport groups, local councils and State and Federal government agencies. This year the RTA completed approximately 19 million registration and licensing transactions for the 4.6 million drivers and 5.1 million registered vehicles in NSW.

The RTA continues to participate in various external committees such as Austroads Council and the Standing Committee on Transport (SCOT). Austroads undertakes nationally strategic research on behalf of Australasian road agencies, promotes improved practice, facilitates collaboration and consistency and provides expert advice to the Australian Transport Council (ATC) and SCOT.

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Who we are and what we do