The Department of Main Roads was an agency of the New South Wales Government, responsible for planning, constructing and maintaining major road infrastructure. The DMR directly managed highways and major roads and provided funding to local councils for regional and local roads. The agency was merged with other agencies to form the Roads and Traffic Authority in 1989.
History
The Ministry of Transport was established in December 1932 by way of the Transport Act of 1932, following the dismissal of the Lang Government and the subsequent state election. The ministry consisted of three departments, including the Department of Main Roads and the Department of Road Transport and Tramways. The departments were established as the incoming Stevens Government and its Minister for Transport Lt. Col. Michael Bruxner sought to reorganize the management of the road network in NSW. The new Department essentially resumed the functions that had been held by the NSW Main Roads Board from 1925 until March 1932, when they were transferred to the Department of Transport by the Lang Government. The Transport Act of 1932 provided for the appointment of a Commissioner of Main Roads who held the powers necessary to manage the major highways of the State. Hugh Hamilton Newell was appointed as the first Commissioner. The new Department also took over the management of the newly constructed Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Public Works Department. In 1976 the responsibilities for managing traffic, including the operation of the traffic signal system, were transferred to the DMR from the Department of Motor Transport, which was a successor of Department of Road Transport and Tramways. Many specialist traffic management staff and traffic signal maintenance crews also became part of the DMR at this time. The DMR was merged with the Traffic Authority of New South Wales and the Department of Motor Transport to form the Roads and Traffic Authority on 13 January 1989.
Local roads continued to managed by local councils.
Organisation
The Department of Main Roads was headed by a Commissioner who was a statutory appointment by the Minister for Roads. The Department employed salaried staff who carried out planing, management an administrative tasks and day labour staff who undertook road and bridge works. For much of its existence the DMR undertook a significant proportion of its road and bridge construction and all its maintenance activities using its own labour force. It also operated major mechanical workshops, asphalt plants, spray sealing crews, road linemarking teams and materials testing laboratories. In 1932 the Department had a total employment of 2,425. By 1970, as tasks expanded, this number had grown to 11,497. In the later 1970s and through the 1980s successive waves of internal re-organisation led to more work being let out to contract with the total employment number dropping to 8,700 by the time the Department ceased to exist in 1989.
The Department of Main Roads became a member of Conference of State Road Authorities when that organisation was formed in 1934 and then, from 1959, the National Association of Australian State Road Authorities. When NAASRA was transformed into Austroads in 1989 the DMR’s successor the Roads and Traffic Authority became a foundation member.
