Some council leaders in remote Queensland are pushing for a better road to link the country’s east and west.

Mayors say a big effort is needed to improve The Outback Way – a 2,800 kilometre stretch from Winton in western Queensland to Laverton on Western Australia's Goldfields.

At the recent Outback Highway Development Council's annual general meeting in Alice Springs, Winton Mayor Butch Lenton said there had been a promise from the Federal Government of $33 million to seal parts of the track.

Cr Lenton says efforts to build the road were never really finished, and it is now caught between dilapidation and being a useful connection for mining, tourism and other industries.

“The total kilometres from Winton to Laverton is 2,800 kilometres, and of that 1,700 is unsealed,” he said.

“1979 was when they first started looking at it as an alternative route east to west through the middle of Australia.

“There is a fair bit of work to be done, and the project has been going for a long time.”

“It is just a great development for Australia to be honest... it links Cairns to Perth, from east to west also,” he said.

Boulia Mayor Rick Britton was at the meeting too, and voiced his opinion that a Federal Government push for cost-cutting should not come at the expense of regional roads, as the government prepares to fork out billions for metropolitan infrastructure.

“We foresee in the future that there is going to be mining coming into our shire and our road infrastructure won't be able to cope with these industries coming forward,” Cr Britton said.

“There is no money, but you still have to invest in capital for the future.

“You just can't stop everything and you still have to maintain the massive infrastructure that we have right across Australia,” he said.