Transport Minister Dean Nalder said the state government should have some ideas about how to address traffic issues at Denny Avenue, Kelmscott in the ‘next few months’ but watered down the possibility of a grade separation.
Mr Nalder visited the road at 9am on Tuesday to discuss traffic issues at the level crossing with Liberal candidate for Canning Andrew Hastie.
He said a grade separation was an expensive project and the relevant departments were investigating other solutions like cameras at the crossing but did not provide further detail about how they would work.
“We agree something needs to be done, there is a push for all sorts of types of works and they are very expensive so we’re trying to see what we can do to improve the safety of the area.
“The ultimate solution is a grade separation but we’re talking in excess of $100 million and that is very expensive for a bridge.
“Main roads is currently going through all of that with the public transport authority to see what we can do that is a little bit more innovative to provide a better solution for passengers in their area.”
“We’ve even had approaches from different companies with innovative approaches that we’re exploring and trying to assess at this point in time.
“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.”
Member for Armadale Tony Buti said he was cynical of Mr Nalder’s comments given he and the late Don Randall had been trying since March to set up a meeting at the road.
“I’m very surprised and disappointed that Minister Nalder has found time to appear at Denny Avenue,” he said.
“Don Randall and I had been seeking a meeting with him on site for a number of months.
We had great knowledge and insight into the community concerns of the issue and we have personal experience and we would have been able to argue a strong case as to why something has to be done.
“It’s very disappointing for my community and I would not be trusting anything he says during this election period about Denny Avenue.”
Denny Avenue was shaping up to be a key election issue with both Liberal and Labor parties advocating for something to be done. Mr Hastie said while he knew it was a local road he wanted to do something about it.
“I’ve been touring the electorate over the last fortnight and Denny Avenue and traffic congestion keeps popping up,” he said.
Labor candidate Matt Keogh said the road had been an issue for more than 15 years and something needed to be done to address it.
On Sunday morning a man driving a green Holden Commodore was involved in a hit and run incident with a silver four wheel drive at the intersection.
All three intersections on the 190-metre long stretch of road were in the top 10 worst local road intersections for accidents in the city according to main roads crash data from 2009 to 2013.
Over the five-year period 108 crashes totalling $6.1 million in damage and 24 casualties occurred at the Streich Avenue and Railway Avenue intersections around the level crossing.
