Queensland's deteriorating road network faces a $9 billion works backlog over the next decade, according to a new report.
The Queensland Audit Office delivered a scathing assessment of the state's network in its Integrated Transport Planning document released on Tuesday.
It found the Department of Transport and Main Roads had a $4 billion backlog for renewal and maintenance work on existing roads as of June 30.
But that figure will blow out to $9 billion unless funding issues are addressed.
The QAO warned that backlog would compromise service standards and would require a focus on "safety-related defects" on its road network at the expense of other maintenance works.
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It also found the existing underfunding meant the condition of the state's roads fell "well short" of the department's own target standards.
"Without alternative strategies to address the funding issues, DTMR faces a risk that it will not be able to maintain or improve service standards on the transport network to meet Queensland's future needs," the report read.
The QAO urged DMTR to finish its Queensland Transport Policy so it had a plan for how to balance increased road use with a network that was "at risk of deteriorating as a result of insufficient renewal funding".
It also made 13 recommendations to DTMR and the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the report showed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had no plan to build the roads the state needed because it couldn't even keep up with fixing existing ones.
"Annastacia Palaszczuk has invested less in infrastructure than any previous government," she said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Our roads are becoming less reliable and less productive under Labor."
A spokesman for Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey told AAP it would have a "close look" at the QAO report.
"The Palaszczuk government is delivering record road and transport infrastructure spend for the second year in a row - $21 billion over four years," he said.

