Western Australia’s most notorious black spot - the intersection of Reid Highway and Alexander Drive in Perth’s northern suburbs -
Western Australia’s most notorious black spot – the intersection of Reid Highway and Alexander Drive in Perth’s northern suburbs – will be made safer with a $72million overpass.
Premier Alan Carpenter today announced construction of the significant project would be brought forward by several years with $62million in State Government funding and $10million from the Federal Government.
“This investment will ensure the safety and efficiency of the intersection, which has about 75,000 vehicles travelling though it each weekday,” Carpenter says.
“The intersection is ranked the highest in WA for vehicle crashes, with 358 reported crashes over the five years to December 2007 – an average of more than 71 per year over those five years.
“These 358 crashes cost the community about $10.3million, which is substantial.
“It will also be a major boost to public transport, cutting delays experienced by thousands of bus commuters by up to 10 minutes during peak times.”
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan says the project would involve construction of two bridges on Reid Highway to allow traffic to travel over Alexander Drive, as well as new signalised on and off ramps.
The bridges would be wide enough to accommodate future bus lanes on Alexander Drive.
Main Roads had advised a preliminary design would be completed by December, with tenders for the project to be called in early 2009.
As well as road safety and efficiency benefits, the new interchange would provide benefits in many other areas, such as:
- capacity – the intersection is currently operating at its maximum capacity. The new interchange will reduce delays;
- environmental – less delays mean less emissions therefore less environmental impacts;
- social – the risk of trauma and public frustration is reduced with the removal of the current signalised intersection for through traffic on Reid Highway;
- economic – less delays mean less fuel usage, increased productivity and less time wasted at the intersection; and
- financial – reduced maintenance costs due to the level of traffic and crash frequency.
MacTiernan says the Reid Highway/Alexander Drive intersection had become the highest priority following the Government’s investment in fixing the Leach Highway/Orrong Road intersection.
“The State Government is investing in important infrastructure projects to benefit all Western Australians,” she says.