Main Roads grows as Albany work continues

The state government has brought the Great Southern and South West road maintenance workforce in-house, as part of its statewide transition to grow Main Roads.

Around 100 staff across the two regions have been brought into Main Roads from external contractors: 39 in the Great Southern and 61 in the South West. A new Main Roads office will also be established in Manjimup.

The shift is the latest in a series of moves since late 2022 designed to bring road maintenance back into the government after they were outsourced to contractors in the 1990s.

More than 350 staff have now joined Main Roads since the start of the transition, with incident response services the next in line to join, from mid-February.

The Kimberley region will be the last to move back in-house, with a changeover slated for November.

Main Roads had 1,454 staff on its books at June 30 last year, according to its annual report. The organisation had 1,083 employees at June 30 2019.

Premier Roger Cook said the move would allow the government to offer full-time contracts to people in the regions while facilitating road maintenance in the state.

“By bringing road maintenance back into government, we're delivering quality local jobs with better pay and conditions for workers,” he said.

“It also ensures our regional roads are better serviced into the future.”

The government claimed when announced that the move in-house would save it $25 million per annum, a number queried by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA at the time.

The announcement came on a visit to Albany, where Mr Cook and Treasurer Rita Saffioti revealed construction on the Albany Ring Road was entering its final stages.

The road – originally planned for completion in 2023 – is now expected to open by the middle of the year, and the government says it will ease traffic congestion and improve road safety in the town.

The project will connect Albany Highway to Princess Royal Drive, with grade-separated interchanges at Albany Highway, South Coast Highway and Frenchman Bay Road.

The government also confirmed a $37 million flyover road would be built at the intersection of Menang Drive and Chester Pass Road to further ease the traffic flow.

Mr Cook said the new road would be critical to the economy of the Great Southern.

“The Albany Ring Road is a strategically important project, underpinning the long-term economic strength of the Port of Albany and supporting local jobs,” he said.

“The new interchange at Menang Drive and Chester Pass Road will allow the full benefits of the Ring Road project to be realised, improving the freight efficiency and the competitiveness of our exports from the Great Southern.”

In February 2021, Business News revealed the road had failed an Infrastructure Australia cost-benefit assessment.

That was revealed after work had started on the first stage of the Albany Ring Road in September 2020, when the project was estimated to cost $175 million, including $35 million of federal funding.

The estimated cost of the road as initially planned had grown to $215 million in the 2023-24 state budget papers.

Construction of the additional flyover will begin late this year, ahead of a planned 2025 opening.