More government bodies appear to have abandoned efforts to reduce traffic congestion on Denny Avenue in Kelmscott despite assurances from state Transport Minister Dean Nalder during the Canning by-election that work was being done.
Mr Nalder visited the intersection in August last year with then Canning Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie after the road was raised as a major by-election issue.
He told The Examiner that Main Roads WA and the Public Transport Authority were looking at solutions that were ‘a little bit more innovative’ and that they would have something within a few months.
“We’ve even had approaches from different companies with innovative approaches that we’re exploring and trying to assess at this point in time,” he said.
“Hopefully in the near term in the next few months we’ll be able to come up with some ideas that will hopefully improve the situation.”
When asked last week what ‘innovative’ solutions were being followed up and what stage were they at, a Main Roads spokeswoman said they had altered the recently upgraded traffic light signals to improve traffic flow.
The spokeswoman didn’t detail any more projects or answer questions about what companies had approached them or what solutions they had proposed.
The lights upgrades, including the addition of lights on the Denny Avenue Streich Avenue intersection, were funded through a federal blackspot grant secured by the City of Armadale months before Mr Nalder’s comments.
They were completed in November.
The lights timing changes were made in December following massive public backlash with some residents complaining they had been stuck at the level crossing for sometimes 10 to 15 minutes.
Main Roads did not respond to questions over whether this meant effectively no work had been done in the area.
Member for Armadale Tony Buti savaged the State Government in parliament last Tuesday accusing it of failing Perth’s southeast residents’ infrastructure needs by not supporting projects like Denny Avenue or the North Lake Road Bridge.
Last week The Examiner revealed the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority had not released a single planning document for the Kelmscott CBD in the five years it’s had planning control of the area.
Mr Nalder was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.
