Road infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is increasingly exposed to climate and disaster risks. Yet despite growing recognition of the need to build resilience into road networks, the path from identifying vulnerabilities to securing investment remains difficult to navigate. Translating resilience needs into bankable, financeable projects continues to be a persistent challenge and one with direct consequences for the communities that depend on these networks.

In many LMICs, road authorities operate under severe budget constraints that systematically prioritise network expansion and rehabilitation over resilience investments. Institutional and technical capacity for project preparation is often limited, and gaps in asset data, risk information and economic appraisal tools make it difficult to justify resilience measures in investment terms. Road administrations also face significant barriers in navigating the appraisal frameworks, safeguard requirements and climate finance instruments of multilateral development banks (MDBs), which were not always designed with LMIC operational realities in mind.

At the same time, development partners and MDBs have dedicated instruments and resources to support resilient infrastructure, but these are not always channelled to the institutions or projects where they are most needed. Underutilisation of available financing often reflects capacity and process barriers rather than an absence of investment need. The result is a structural misalignment between the scale of resilience requirements in LMICs and the volume of financing that reaches the road sector.

Addressing this gap requires more than financial instruments. It requires targeted project preparation support, technical assistance and capacity development as well as a stronger alignment between MDB processes and the operational context in which LMIC road authorities’ function.