VicRoads or the Roads Corporation of Victoria is a statutory corporation in the state of Victoria, Australia. In the state, it is responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration, and regulating the accident towing industry in Victoria. It is part of the Department of Transport Prior to July 2019, it was the road and traffic authority in Victoria, responsible also for maintenance and construction of the arterial road network, and road safety policy and research. These functions were transferred or delegated to the Department of Transport on 1 July 2019. The main VicRoads administration is located in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, on the site of the former Kew Railway Station, with other metropolitan offices in the Melbourne CBD, Burwood and Sunshine. Regional offices and Project offices are located in Geelong, Traralgon, Benalla, Bendigo and Ballarat, among others. In addition VicRoads operates many offices servicing the public in registration and licensing throughout metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Governance
In 1983, the Country Roads Board was replaced by the Road Construction Authority, under the former Transport Act 1983. In 1989, the Road Traffic Authority was merged with the Road Construction Authority to form the Roads Corporation, trading under the name VicRoads. VicRoads was re-established from 1 July 2010 under the Transport Integration Act, which establishes a framework for an integrated and sustainable transport system in Victoria and empowers the key Victorian Government agencies with responsibility for the State's land and water transport system. The Act provides that VicRoads' primary object is to provide, operate and maintain the road system consistent with the vision statement in the Act and objectives which emphasise transport integration and sustainability. The statute also requires VicRoads to "...manage the road system in a manner which supports a sustainable Victoria by seeking to increase the share of public transport, walking and cycling trips as a proportion of all transport trips in Victoria..." In July 2016, the government announced the creation of Transport for Victoria, a new statutory authority combining planning functions of Public Transport Victoria and VicRoads as well as functions of other agencies. On 1 July 2018, the Major Road Projects Authority was formed, with the function of administering specified road projects transferred from VicRoads to the new authority. On 1 January 2019, the Department of Transport and its major project authority, the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority was formed. The Major Road Projects Authority was renamed Major Road Projects Victoria and became part of MTIA. In April 2019, it was announced that VicRoads would cease to exist as an independent entity from 30 June 2019 with its functions merged with those of Public Transport Victoria into a new division of the Department of Transport. Announcing the reforms, Premier Daniel Andrews argued that the reform would go "one step beyond" the formation of Transport for Victoria, and said that merging the two agencies would lead to planning of an integrated and mode-agnostic transport network. Although the Rail, Tram and Bus Union supported the government's decision, the Australian Services Union, representing a large number of VicRoads administrative staff, opposed the merger. On 1 July 2019, most of VicRoads functions were absorbed into the Department of Transport, excluding registration and licensing functions and some heavy vehicle functions, which remained under VicRoads.
Operations
Since 1 July 2019, VicRoads' remaining functions were registration and licensing, and heavy vehicle compliance, enforcement and investigation functions. On 1 January 2020, all road management functions and responsibilities of VicRoads are transferred to and vested in the Head, Transport for Victoria, an office established under section 64A of the Transport Integration Act 2010 and currently held by the Secretary of Department of Transport. This meant that any reference to VicRoads in road management standards and other technical information must be construed as a reference to Head, Transport for Victoria.
