The South African government is divided into three levels: national, provincial, and local. The local government is constitutionally mandated to provide sustainable and effective services. In South Africa, roads, among other essentials are basic human rights. However, the state of road infrastructure is in a critical state, with 80% of roads having exceeded their 20-year design life. This presents a challenge to the country’s economic growth and the quality of life of citizens. therefore, this study aims to propose a system dynamics model for one of the South African municipalities in Limpopo Province that evaluates the current maintenance practices and simulates sustainable road maintenance under maintenance resource constraints. three objectives were addressed, including evaluation of current maintenance practices, identifying systematic inefficiencies, and proposing adaptive solutions for under-resourced municipalities, leaving a critical gap in scalable and sustainable solutions. The current literature lacks practical models for adaptive road maintenance tailored to under resourced municipalities, leaving a critical gap in scalable and sustainable solutions.  Addressing these gaps requires overcoming persistent budgetary constraints, workforce shortages, and institutional resistance to new technology adoption. A mixed-method research design was adopted to ensure the success of this study. A systematic literature review, document analysis, and model development were employed as the research methods. The results revealed the overreliance on a singular maintenance strategy as the primary factor contributing to substandard road conditions. By integrating systems thinking with dynamic modelling, this study offers scalable template for municipalities to optimize limited resources while improving long term infrastructure resilience.

Keywords

Road maintenance, Systems Thinking, System Dynamics, municipalities, and Technological advancement.