"Most road user charges and fuel taxes spent in Northland aren't making their way back to Northland," she said. "At the moment the government is spending massive amounts of money on a few projects in urban areas, they're not spending on roads that are the life-blood of regions like Northland."
Mr Norman said Northland roads were losing out to the Government's Roads of National Significance projects, leaving them to deteriorate until they were unfit for purpose.
His party would increase regional transport funding by $423 million over the next decade and invest $3 billion in state highways, reprioritising funding away from "vanity projects" and into regional roads.
"More than half of all vehicle trips in New Zealand are on local roads, yet these roads only receive a fraction of overall transport spending. Our plan will change this. Improving the safety and quality of existing roads will be our priority, as well as making rail and coastal shipping a viable option for more freight."
Defending the government's roading spend in Northland, Mr Sabin said more than $1.66 billion had been committed to projects such as the fast-tracking of the Puhoi to Wellsford motorway, Loop Road in Whangarei and the Akerama curves near Towai.
The government had also pledged to cover up to 90 per cent of the estimated $30 million bill for repairing storm-damaged local roads in the Far North, he said. The cost of fixing local roads is usually borne by ratepayers.
Roading advocates such as district councillor Ann Court have welcomed the government's promise of help, but she said the repairs would only bring the district's roads back up to their previous vulnerable state.
Ms Court backed the government's plans for a Puhoi to Wellsford motorway extension but Mr Norman said it would bring no real economic benefit.
"The Puhoi to Wellsford highway has one of the weakest economic cases of any of the big motorway upgrades. It has a benefit cost ratio of 0.8 which means that for every $1 spend on it we'll only get 80 cents of economic benefits back. In other words, it's uneconomic."
The Greens would also consider bringing more Northland roads into the state highway network so they could receive greater funding from central government, he said.
One road which has been suggested as a candidate for state highway status is Mangakahia Rd, linking Kaikohe and Whangarei. Highway closures in the July floods forced large numbers of trucks on to Mangakahia Rd, which quickly deteriorated and had to be closed to heavy traffic.
The Greens are also backing a regional council proposal for a new rail line to the port at Marsden Pt, saying it would improve safety and reduce congestion on SH1.
