The City of Canning has taken matters into their own hands and launched a comprehensive traffic monitoring system across Rossmoyne, Riverton, and Shelley to evaluate the potential effects of the State Government’s proposed changes to three intersections along Leach Highway.
As part of the Main Roads Leach Highway Intersection Improvements project, the Fifth Avenue and Corinthian Road E intersections will be modified to remove the right-turn manoeuvres onto Leach Highway, and instead, nearby Beatrice Avenue will have a new set of traffic signals installed, aimed at improving road access and safety.
Deputy Mayor and state Liberal candidate for Riverton, Amanda Spencer-Teo, is concerned about the decision to close off these access points and believes it’s based on out-of-date data that was collected prior to council work in 2021.
“The Webb Street modifications were completed several years ago and were designed to not only improve the Leach Hwy/Webb St intersection but also increase the capacity of Webb Street by adding additional lanes to reduce pressure on Fifth Ave,” she said.
“The data used by the State Government to justify the project doesn’t consider this.”
As part of the $4,000 data-collecting program, traffic counters have now been deployed along Webb Street, Fifth Avenue, Beatrice Avenue, and several adjacent connecting roads.
Main Roads said planning for the project also commenced in 2021 and they still plan to proceed with the modifications along Leach Highway, claiming it needs to be completed to address safety, access and congestion concerns.
“The intersection has been the subject of a number of crashes in the past, with the proposed modifications aimed at addressing those issues,” a Main Roads spokesperson said.
“While there will be some redistribution of traffic, the modelling shows there won’t be significant impacts to the local road network.”
Ms Spencer-Teo disagrees with Main Roads and is concerned the state government is spending $5 million on an unnecessary project.
“These so-called dangerous intersections have no more crashes than any other intersection; in fact, they have less than many along Leach.” Ms Teo said.
“I’ve had many residents contact me to raise their concerns, some who do not want to have their access removed, but others are concerned that their street will become busier as local residents need to find different routes to enter and exit their suburb.”
WA Labor Member for Riverton Dr Jags Krishnan has dismissed Spencer-Teo’s concerns and believes the project has the support of the local community.
“I’ve had a huge amount of feedback from local residents regarding their concerns about this intersection, which is why I made a commitment to make it safer. Our recent survey saw over two-thirds of respondents wanting safety improvements at these intersections,” Dr Krishnan said.
“Given the heightened concern in the community about road safety, I would call on the Liberal candidate to put her own political agenda to one side and get behind this project that will make the road network safer for our community,” Mr Krishnan said.
Design work for the modifications has already begun and construction is expected to start in later this year, and be completed by mid-2025.
