Flyover road works drive shop traffic away

CARRAMAR shop owners and operators fear road works ramping up will drive away more customers as motorists face reduced access.

Main Roads recently advised businesses that access from Carramar Village Shopping Centre to Joondalup Drive would be closed while a roundabout was built at Cheriton Drive as part of the Wanneroo Road-Joondalup Drive interchange project.

Chippy’s Fish Cafe Carramar owner Kerry Ferguson said like Drovers shopping precinct, Carramar businesses were suffering a drop in customers and revenue during the road works, with less traffic passing through the area as motorists sought other routes.

Mrs Ferguson said business had recently been advised there would only be left-in access from Joondalup Drive to the shopping centre, with a detour taking people through suburban streets before they could get back to the main east-west route.

She said business owners feared the inconvenience would drive more customers away.

“It’s really going to tip a lot of businesses over the edge,” she said.

“Whilst they are building that roundabout, that’s going to restrict our access.

“A lot of our customers come from Ashby and Tapping which is on the other side; that’s massively restricted for them.”

Main Roads spokesman Dean Roberts said the roundabout would improve road safety, efficiency and access to the Carramar shops and residential area once completed.

Mr Roberts said east-bound traffic could still turn left to get to the shops, while motorists travelling west could get access via Rawlinna Parkway and those trying exit to the west could used a signposted detour to Houghton Drive.

“Following a recent improvement to our traffic management setup, our construction team is looking at incorporating a left turn out of Cheriton Drive onto Joondalup Drive as part of the first stage of construction works,” he said.

“This will mean that access to and from the east of the precinct via Joondalup Drive is unchanged, with right turn access into the precinct and left turn egress out.”

Mr Roberts said the detours would be in place to two to three months and there would also be a single lane closure on Joondalup Drive.

Mrs Ferguson said the fish shop’s revenue had dropped from up to $19,000 a week to less than $12,000 a week, and she’d already had to reduce staff numbers and shifts, as had other store owners.

“We’ve had a drop of at least 35 per cent since at least June of last year when they first closed the intersection,” she said.

The cafe owner said shop owners were really struggling and hoped residents would continue to support local businesses.

“We would love for the community to rally around us,” she said.

Mr Roberts said there were signs on all approaches to the shopping centre and information about the work had been provide to management and tenants as well as the local community.

“Construction of the first half of the new roundabout and modified approaches requires traffic to be shifted to the southern edge of Joondalup Drive to create a safe work zone for our crews,” he said.

Regarding compensation, Mr Roberts said the procedure was outlined on the Main Roads website and claims would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

He said the interchange and local road upgrades were due to finish in mid-2020 and traffic was expected to start using the flyover bridge in late April.

Main Roads also advised work was starting on the traffic signals at the Wanneroo Road-Clarkson Avenue intersection this week, which would include lane closures as well as work on some Sundays and at night.

Visit mainroads.wa.gov.au for more information.

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