Spiro Georgiou, Alyssa Hayden, Ian Britza, Transport Minister Dean Nalder, Donna Faragher and Charlie Zannino at last week’s announcement.
Camera IconSpiro Georgiou, Alyssa Hayden, Ian Britza, Transport Minister Dean Nalder, Donna Faragher and Charlie Zannino at last week’s announcement. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Long wait for Reid Hwy overpass will soon be over

Tom RabeStirling Times

Transport Minister Dean Nalder last week announced details of the $84 million project that was originally announced in 2012 by then Transport Minister Troy Buswell, who tipped construction to begin in the 2013-14 financial year.

Roadworks will raise the highway over Malaga Drive, with two separate two-lane bridges, and a path for pedestrians and cyclists tied into existing infrastructure.

Osborne Park business Georgiou Group was awarded the contract by the State Government earlier this year.

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Mr Nalder said community consultation, planning and environmental factors had contributed to the delay in construction at the dangerous intersection, one of the top 10 metropolitan traffic hotspots.

“We need to go through quite a comprehensive project to ensure that we get everything right so that when we start rolling, everything has been sorted and thought through properly,” he said. “There is a lot that goes into planning and part of that is environmental processes; we’ve got an important reserve that needs to be protected.”

West Swan MLA Rita Saffioti welcomed the latest news but questioned why it had taken so long.

“The minister describes this project as a priority yet Malaga-Reid has been one of the most congested and unsafe intersections in Perth for years; in 2012 the RAC named it worst in the State,” she said.

The works are part of a larger road upgrade project involving the duplication of the highway from Duffy Road to Erindale Road as well as widening the highway between Marmion Avenue and Duffy Road.

The intersection, used by about 75,000 vehicles each weekday, will also include an optic fibre communication network, vehicle detection systems and security cameras

The works received $67.2 million in Federal funding and $40.8 million in State funds. Mr Nalder said the entire project was on track for completion by July 2016.