The City of Mandurah will use new forecast population data in its fight to have an entrance road to Mandurah built in time for the opening of the new $511 million Perth to Bunbury Highway in 2009.
The City of Mandurah will use new forecast population data in its fight to have an entrance road to Mandurah built in time for the opening of the new $511 million Perth to Bunbury Highway in 2009.
Construction of the long-planned highway is expected to get under way before Christmas by Leighton, GHD and WA Limestone of the Southern Gateway Consortium, once environmental approval and $170 million is secured from the federal government.
The 70.5 kilometre dual carriageway will be constructed from the Kwinana Freeway extension through to the Old Coast Road at Lake Clifton and is expected to reduce travel times between Safety Bay Road and Lake Clifton by up to 34 minutes.
Project partner Main Roads have indicated in a public project brief that the Mandurah Entrance Road (Road A) off the highway will not be included in the project in the near future, claiming all available road funding has been committed.
Instead, minor connections to Mandurah are initially proposed via Paganoni, Lakes and Pinjarra roads.
Mandurah Mayor Paddi Creevey said the proposed Mandurah Entrance Road was vital to the health and ongoing prosperity of the city, and it was not contemplating failure in making the road a reality.
Ms Creevey said the road was a point of contention between the city and Main Roads due to the WA Planning Commission’s forecast population figures for the city, which Mandurah claims undervalues the city’s population growth and in turn has resulted in the underestimation of the city’s infrastructure needs by the government.
The WAPC has forecast the population of Mandurah to reach 100,000 by 2021 while the city predicts it will reach approximately 120,000 in the period.
“We’ll be setting up a meeting with Alannah MacTiernan soon to present our case. The underlying problem is the figures just don’t stack up,” Ms Creevey said.
“They are spending more than half a billion dollars on this infrastructure to reduce travel times, but without Road A it won’t work…it’s the final piece of the jigsaw.”
In February 2006, the city engaged Melbourne-based consultants ID (Informed Decisions) to undertake population forecast modeling for Mandurah to 2021.
Ms Creevey said the ID forecast represented an extra 11 primary schools for the region and increased congestion on infrastructure.
“We’re at a point in our evolution where we could become the foremost southern regional city. If we do nothing, we’ll become a dormitory suburb of Perth,” she said.
The city believes the three proposed minor link roads are not the answer and would cause local traffic to backtrack, thereby placing pressure on local roads that are already struggling to cope.
However, Ms Creevey commended the government on its commitment to the continuous build of the Peel Deviation, and said the highway was extremely important to the region through easing traffic congestion on the Old Coast Road and diverting heavy freight traffic from Mandurah.
