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Freeway extension news ‘imminent’

Lucy JarvisNorth Coast Times

Speaking at the Two Rocks Yanchep Residents Association (TRYRA) meeting last week, Wanneroo MLA Paul Miles said the freeway extension works were “going great guns” and due for completion next year.

“It’s going to Hester Avenue initially,” Mr Miles said.

“We are planning to build that to Romeo Road.”

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He said it would cost about $90 million to extend the freeway to Romeo Road and discussions were focused on whether to link it to Wanneroo Road or end it at Romeo Road.

“We have to find that money,” Mr Miles said.

“An announcement for that will be made in the not-too-distant future.

“Do we exit it at Romeo, or do we swing it a little bit and end at Wanneroo Road?

“It’s less than 1km from Wanneroo Road.”

Wanneroo Labor candidate Sabine Winton, who lives in Nowergup, told the Times the announcement would be welcome.

“The Romeo Road extension is one that was asked for from the very beginning of the Mitchell Freeway consultation group, which I was part of,” she said.

“The business case was for it to go to Romeo.

“The government decided that they wouldn’t go to that.

“Without the Romeo Road extension, that traffic congestion at Hester is just going to be astronomical (and) any benefit we get from a Mitchell Freeway extension is null and void.”

Mrs Winton said she also wanted upgrades to Wanneroo Road in Carabooda, where there had been serious and fatal crashes recently.

Mr Miles said he attended the TRYRA meeting because the Wanneroo electorate boundary would change at the 2017 election to include the nearby suburbs of Carabooda and Nowergup.

Mr Miles lives in Mindarie resident but had previously lived in Yanchep until moving closer to his son’s school two years ago.

He said his family was still involved in Sun City Yacht Club in Two Rocks. Long wait for rail to Yanchep TWO Rocks Yanchep Residents Association member Ed Whitchurch asked for the Liberal party’s view on delivering rail to Yanchep at the March 21 meeting. “We feel left out,” Mr Whitchurch said. Wanneroo MLA Paul Miles said the rail extension was eight years away, but was not clear about whether that meant it would be finished by 2024 or announced by then. “At the moment, it is eight years away for us to say we are going to build it,” he said. “By that time we will have enough population to sustain the rail.” The MP said the State Government would release a public transport document, done by academics, in two or three months. He said Yanchep developers wanted the station to go underground, with retail and apartments above it, and there would be another station in Alkimos, plus one between the two that he believed should just be a platform. “I don’t support building these big elaborate things – that’s where the cost goes,” he said. Mr Miles said the cost of rail extended beyond building it, as there were ongoing costs to deliver the service, transport fares were heavily subsidised by taxpayers and buses were under-patronised. “I think it would be cheaper to give everyone a voucher for a taxi than to run buses (in Yanchep and Two Rocks),” he said. “What I would like to see is everyone using the buses.” TRYRA president Peter Wimsett agreed that the buses servicing the area were “empty a lot of the time”. Member Peter Stainthorpe said roads in newer developments were also too narrow for buses to navigate.