Roe 8 no traffic panacea

Anyone driving along South Street would know the reason for this ” the congestion associated with the Fiona Stanley Hospital intersection upgrades is forcing people on to Leach Highway.

The article also quoted the City of Melville chief executive as recommending that Roe Highway Stage 8 extension be constructed as this would reduce this traffic congestion.

The facts are actually quite different.

The Public Environmental Review prepared for the project showed that in many cases the improvement in congestion with the construction of Roe Highway extension is marginal, and would hardly be noticed.

Even more damning, it is predicted that the congestion will actually get significantly worse at two intersections and there would be only a 10-20 per cent decrease in traffic density on Leach Highway and South Street because of constructing the highway extension.

It is inappropriate to spend $750 million on constructing the extension when the congestion is hardly predicted to improve and is actually likely to get worse at some locations.

This money would be much better spent on longer-lasting, more sustainable options by taking traffic off the roads, making better use of existing regional railway lines and improving public transport.