Cost of completing Perth-Rockingham Hwy prohibitive

31/12/95

Transport Minister Eric Charlton said the sheer cost of completing the proposed Perth-Rockingham coastal highway made the project prohibitive.

Mr Charlton said linking the new highway from Mitchell Freeway at Innaloo through to Rockingham would cost in the order of $150 million.

"The cost of constructing the so-called Stephenson Highway to a completed stage, combined with competing road funding priorities throughout Western Australia, had placed the project on the back-burner many years ago," he said.

The Minister said there were no plans by the Government or Main Roads to complete this highway development, although certain components of it had been built and would be built under the State's Additional Funding Program (AFP) for roads over the next 10 years.

"The Stirling Road Link was constructed last year using $10 million in Commonwealth Better Cities funding, primarily because the project fitted in with the Stirling City Council's regional plan," he said.

"At State level, $27 million will be provided under the AFP to construct the Fremantle Eastern Bypass and another $18.7 million has been allocated for the Servetus Street reconstruction.

"Mr Charlton said these were projects the community was demanding now and while they were stand-alone projects that would bring about immediate benefits, they were also designed to link in with a future coastal highway development, if this was required in the long-term.

"Pressure for the development of sections of the route has come from councils and the communities which have approached the Government for funds to overcome serious local traffic and safety problems," he said.

Mr Charlton said there were more than $976 million of important State and local road projects (metropolitan and rural) which communities were wanting to be started, but could not be delivered before 2003-2004 due to the lack of funds.

Some of the essential rural projects were:

·       Perth-Bunbury Highway: dual carriageway for Peel deviation;

·       Moora-Dongara Highway: reconstruct, widen and replace bridges;

·       Derby-Gibb River-Wyndham Road: improvements bridges/floodways; and -

·       Albany-Lake Grace Road: widening to cater for heavy vehicles.

Some of the essential metropolitan projects were:

·       Mitchell Freeway: extend from Ocean Reef Road to Burns Beach Road;

·       Reid Highway: dual carriageway between Erindale Road and Marmion Avenue;

·       Great Eastern Highway: interchange at Roe Highway intersection;

·       Kwinana Freeway: extend from Folly Road to Mandurah; and -

·       Tonkin Highway: connections to Forrest Road, Thomas Road to Brookton Highway.

Mr Charlton said there were numerous other local roads in metropolitan and rural areas suffering a similar $300 million funding crisis.  WA also maintained 25 per cent of the National Highway system, which the Commonwealth grossly underfunded, even though the highways were a Federal Government obligation.

"In the end, the Stephenson Highway plan was a means of improving the existing north-south coastal route. As costal development increased, the need to access those areas would be greater, but it is an issue for the future," he said.

The Minister described as a nonsense the notion in some quarters that the so-called Stephenson Highway was being planned and constructed by stealth.

"The concept of a coastal highway was first conceived in 1963 and aspects of it have been debated widely since then," he said.

"Successive governments have consulted widely with the communities affected, through the Ministry of Planning and Main Roads and the process is being continued by this Government."

Media contact:  Ian Hasleby 321 7333 or 222 9595