The state government has released the results of a three-month community consultation over a proposed trench on West Coast Highway, with a majority of survey participants backing the idea.
The state government has released the results of a three-month community consultation over a proposed trench on West Coast Highway, with a majority of survey participants backing the idea.
DevelopmentWA and Main Roads Western Australia proposed to sink a two-kilometre stretch of the highway to ease congestion in the Scarborough area.
The West Coast Highway planning study was available for public comment from December 2021 to February this year, receiving 719 responses.
A feedback report on the survey results, released on the Main Roads website today, showed about 70 per cent of respondents support the plans for the stretch of land between Ventnor Street and West Coast Terrace.
The proposed plan was to build a lowered road for traffic to pass under intersections at Brighton Road, Scarborough Beach Road and Manning Street.
“It includes a centrally located lowered road section with surface roads and multiple pedestrian crossing points at ground level,” the feedback report said.
“We have also received other stakeholder and community feedback, expanding further on access to and from local roads and the future West Coast Highway, beach connections, amenity and urban design, business access signage, as well as future public transport.
“This feedback is currently under review and will be considered in the finalisation of the planning study report.”
Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the future planning proposal for West Coast Highway was ambitious.
"Scarborough is a popular destination, with almost 40,000 vehicles travelling along West Coast Highway daily,” she said.
"This is anticipated to increase to 50,000 daily by 2041, so it's important we start planning for our future infrastructure now.
"Main Roads will now make a submission to DevelopmentWA to amend the Scarborough Redevelopment Scheme, protecting the land for the future project."
Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin previously reaffirmed the city’s preference for a tunnel instead of a trench despite Main Roads WA ruling it out.
“A tunnel option would require the complete closure of West Coast Highway for a number of years causing extensive disruptions to traffic movements, access and businesses within the Scarborough area,” the feedback report said.
Scarborough MLA Stuart Aubrey said this community survey had the highest number of responses of any Main Roads WA project.
"Almost seventy per cent of our community support this idea and have provided additional feedback on their thoughts about better connectivity, time saving options and how we can increase amenity in the area,” he said.
However, no construction funding has been allocated to the project with further investigations to continue before searching for funding opportunities.
