PLANS for a slip lane at the Marmion Avenue-Neerabup Road roundabout have been shelved due to a drop in traffic volume.
The City of Wanneroo has decided to return $800,000 it received through the Federal Black Spot Program to create a left turn slip lane for southbound traffic turning off Marmion Avenue.
The City’s assets director Harminder Singh said the project to address traffic issues at the Clarkson intersection had been fully funded in 2017-18 through the Federal program.
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READ NOW“We were concerned that traffic is going to increase,” he said.
According to a council report, about 50,000 cars used the intersection per day and there had been 154 crashes recorded there between 2011 and 2015.
Mr Singh said the proposal had been to build a slip lane from Marmion Avenue southbound turning east into Neerabup Road, and have only one lane from Anchorage Drive South flowing straight towards Neerabup.
However, he said traffic counts since the Mitchell Freeway extension opened last August had found the number of vehicles had dropped by more than 25 per cent, with more motorists using Hester Avenue instead.
“Given that traffic hasn’t increased as was projected, the recommendation which we are proposing in here is to not proceed with this project,” he said.
Mr Singh said staff had looked at alternative ways to use the funds at that intersection, but found there was no need to proceed with the project.
Councillor Paul Miles asked what harm there would be to install the slip lane, and Mr Singh said it would have a negative impact on Anchorage Drive traffic by making the left lane a left-turn lane only.
“We would be creating an issue at the expense of treating an issue we don’t need to treat,” he said.
“Anchorage Drive traffic continuing straight has increased as predicted – it needs two lanes.”
Asked if the funding could be used to address issues on Hester Avenue, Mr Singh said it could not because that would be a separate project and subject to different funding applications.
At the February 6 council meeting, elected members unanimously agreed not to proceed with the project.
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