Our Minister, Legislation, Role and Operations

Enabling Legislation

The Main Roads Act 1930, as amended, establishes the Commissioner of Main Roads as a corporate body and sets out the powers and duties of the office.

Responsible Minister

Honourable Rita Saffioti MLA Deputy Premier; Treasurer
Minister for Transport; Tourism

Our Role

Our role is to plan, build, maintain and operate Western Australia's state road network valued at more than $66.7 billion. We work closely with our portfolio partners, the Department of Transport and the Public Transport Authority, as well as local government, to support the needs of all road users across the state by providing an integrated world-class road transport network.

Extent of Operations

We are one of the most geographically dispersed road agencies in the world, responsible for nearly 19,000 kilometres of road spread over 2.5 million square kilometres. Last year we engaged directly with more than 4,900 suppliers and made in the order of $1.753 billion in payments. Of our suppliers, 200 were state or local government agencies and 14 were research bodies or universities. The remainder are classified as contractors, consultants or suppliers and are predominately from the Western Australian economy. Our indirect supply chain is again more extensive with our construction projects engaging with multiple sub-contractors and suppliers.

Main Roads operates from eight locations throughout the state.

Location Population (000) Area Covered (000 km2) State Roads Km
Goldfields–Esperance 56 770 2,202
Great Southern 67 37 1,609
Kimberley 39 419 2,449
Metropolitan 2,111 5 1,013
Mid West-Gascoyne 68 601 3,625
Pilbara 59 506 2,796
South West 315 25 1,771
Wheatbelt 72 159 3,493
Total 2,787 2,526 18,958
^