Estrada: Building Better Roads, Together

Transforming lives: the impact of roads

In Timor-Leste, rural roads are lifelines. They connect families to health care, children to school, and farmers to local markets. But planning and maintaining these roads has long been a challenge.

For years, decisions about which roads to fix—or where to build new ones—were often made without complete information. Local authorities had to rely on outdated maps, guesswork, or spreadsheets that rarely reflected conditions on the ground. As a result, roads fell into disrepair, funds were hard to track, and communities were left behind.

Without the right tools, even the best intentions struggled to take hold on the ground.

We partnered with the Government of Timor-Leste to rethink how infrastructure decisions get made—starting at the local level. Working side-by-side with municipal officials, engineers, planners, and communities, we co-designed a digital platform called Estrada.

Our process included deep user research, rapid prototyping, and iterative testing. We made sure every tool worked in low-connectivity environments. We trained government staff in every municipality and created tools that were easy to use and locally relevant. By embedding Estrada into the country’s broader decentralisation strategy, we helped make it part of the everyday work of government—not just a standalone app.

What We Built

• Estrada, a digital road management platform that helps local governments:
• Prioritize road repairs and upgrades
• Collect data in the field using mobile tools
• Create investment plans that align with national goals
• Track budgets, progress, and maintenance
• Make transparent decisions rooted in real need
• A national data dashboard to support coordination and monitoring
• A capacity-building program training over 80 government staff to independently manage and use the tools
• Integration with the Municipal Portal, ensuring Estrada supports wider government planning processes

Today, over 400 road segments have been assessed using Estrada, with every annual municipal road plan in pilot areas now built on data collected through the platform.

Support was provided by VicRoads, an Australian Government department with 30 years experience working internationally to help implement best practice road transport solutions.