Construction of the Nicholson Road and Garden Street flyover in Thornlie is under a cloud after the Federal Government’s 90-day review into infrastructure projects cut 50 planned works and left more than 250 projects in doubt.
Senator Matt O’Sullivan said that the community deserves more clarity around the timeframe and expected resolution of this ongoing issue.
“The previous Coalition Government committed $40 million to build this critical community safety project,” he said.
During Senate Estimates, he said Federal department officials could only say that the expected project completion is late 2026.
“That’s three years away, if there are no further delays,” he said.
Senate Estimates also revealed that the design concept for the flyover has not yet been completed, with the Department blaming Main Roads WA for the delay in the planning phase.
The design concept is expected to be completed in 2024, which he said was unacceptable.
Senator O’Sullivan said there had been almost 150 crashes at this intersection over the past three years, which resulted in one fatality.
Senator O’Sullivan has launched an online community petition to push for a quick resolution.
It has already received more than 670 signatures.
“This is on top of the more than 1200 signatures from an earlier community petition launched in 2021,” he said.
“All Minister King has managed to deliver in this portfolio in 18 months is delay after delay.”