Rampersad, AshielNkosi, Melusi SManganyi, ObeyMashinini, Jabulani V2025-12-032025-12-032025-10http://hdl.handle.net/10204/14482“Municipalities are failing to balance investment in new infrastructure with sound operation and maintenance of existing infrastructure to ensure sustainable service delivery. Inadequate infrastructure maintenance undermines service delivery and contributes to increased backlogs” [1]. The SAICE Infrastructure Report Card rated municipal paved roads as “D-”, and unpaved municipal roads as “E”. Research states that delaying road maintenance is a false economy, as the longer such maintenance is left undone, the higher the eventual cost to restore the road to an acceptable condition. Prompt corrective measures are therefore recommended to minimise losses for all parties involved [2]. This paper presents a straightforward piece of research to access the readiness of municipalities to address their ageing and deteriorating road infrastructure. The research includes a critical review of road deterioration principles and current challenges, a case study to access the awareness practices of municipalities in managing their road infrastructure and a conceptual framework for local road infrastructure management. • Critical Review: Understanding pavement theory, the impact of delaying road maintenance, the challenges in implementing road maintenance, and opportunities for successful maintenance. • Case Study: Review of municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and finances to understand their threats and challenges, infrastructure awareness, how they prioritise road maintenance and their maintenance expenditure. • Discussion: Potential way forward for local municipalities in the management of their roads. The major threats identified at a local level were road infrastructure deterioration, maintenance budget underfunding and shortage of skills. Furthermore, there are inconsistencies as to the utilisation of their maintenance budget (under-utilised), and prioritising new road construction as opposed to fixing their existing infrastructure.FulltextenSouth African road networkRoad maintenanceMunicipalitiesConference papern/a