A Road Authority is the body responsible for the care, control or management of roads within a given jurisdiction. Road authorities are typically local governments or state government departments or corporations.
Section 5 of the South Australian Road Traffic Act 1961 states that road authority means - (a) an authority, person or body that is responsible for the care, control or management of a road; or (b) any person or body prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition, in relation to specified roads or specified classes of roads;
Section 37 of the Victorian Road Management Act 2004 defines "which road authority is the responsible road authority" for a particular road.