Heavy congestion at the Banksia Esplanade-Ranford Road junction in Canning Vale may soon be a thing of the past after the Member for Jandakot requested an official investigation into the intersection last week.
Vehicles exiting the Banksia Esplanade major thoroughfare to travel west on Ranford Road have long queued up during peak hours because cars exiting the estate must wait for entering cars before they can proceed.
Because of heavy traffic flow running east and west on Ranford Road it was not unusual to see cars queued on both sides of the intersection.
Member for Jandakot, Yaz Mubarakai said he wants a resolution to the congestion problem.
“It was brought to my attention while I was door-knocking for my campaign that during busy periods in the morning and afternoons cars find it extremely difficult to use this road to take a right onto Ranford Road,” he said.
Mr Mubarakai was at the intersection at 3.30pm on Monday and seven cars quickly lined up at the intersection.
He said residents were right to be frustrated.
“It is dangerous,” he said.
“The cars are built up wanting to turn right, but they’ve got to wait for two cars on Ranford Road turning into the estate which means they need to wait for traffic on either side to be clear before they can get across.
“Anxiety builds up, frustration builds up and wanting to make the turn creates a risk.”
A study by Examiner Newspapers before 8.30am on Tuesday found there were more than 10 cars attempting to exit Banksia Esplanade, which continued until after 9am.
Some cars waited up to three minutes to travel just 40 metres to the intersection.
Mr Mubarakai wrote to MainRoads on June 9 requesting a feasibility test into modifying traffic flow around the intersection and said he asked them to look specifically at traffic flow around residential estates that have exits onto Ranford Road.
He said he believed synchronising the traffic lights at the Nicholson Road-Ranford Road and Warratah Boulevard-Ranford Road intersections could help create a clearer gap in traffic.
