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BUILDING FOR TOMORROW FOR ALL WEST AUSTRALIANS
HON. RITA SAFFIOTI, WA MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT, PLANNING AND PORTS
The McGowan Government continues to deliver on our commitment to improve Western Australia’s transport infrastructure with 2021 seeing an unprecedented level of investment across the state.
Our Building for Tomorrow program of works is making WA better connected than ever before, with new train stations and shared paths, safer roads and upgraded marine facilities all working together to improve connections for communities.
Over 80 major projects are completed, under construction or in planning across metropolitan and regional areas, with more than 72 kilometres of new rail
line, 150 kilometres of new cycle paths, upgrades to eight marine facilities, over $400 million invested in the city’s freeways and an extensive safety improvement program for regional roads all underway.
Together, these projects will transform our state’s transport network with an unprecedented investment in road, rail and cycling projects easing congestion and creating local jobs. The billions of dollars being invested will service WA’s
“OVER 80 MAJOR PROJECTS ARE COMPLETED, UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR IN PLANNING ACROSS METROPOLITAN AND REGIONAL AREAS, WITH MORE THAN 72 KILOMETRES OF NEW RAIL LINE, 150 KILOMETRES OF NEW CYCLE PATHS, UPGRADES TO EIGHT MARINE FACILITIES, OVER $400 MILLION INVESTED IN THE CITY’S FREEWAYS AND AN EXTENSIVE SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM FOR REGIONAL ROADS ALL UNDERWAY.”
growing population into the future, providing strong transport connections for communities and enabling Western Australians to safely and easily travel throughout our state.
During 2021, the METRONET program of works achieved significant milestones as we continue to work towards delivering this major transformation to Perth’s rail network – creating a well-connected city with more transport, housing and employment choices.
The first of fifteen METRONET projects to be completed, the Bellevue Railcar Assembly Facility opened in June, returning rail car manufacturing to Western Australia after 27 years. The first of 246 new C-series railcars are due to roll off the assembly line in 2022, with more than 200 local workers employed at the facility.
This project was one of several projects contributing to over $80 million worth of services awarded across the transport portfolio to Aboriginal businesses last financial year.
The METRONET level crossing removal program will see up to nine crossings removed over the coming years, greatly improving safety, traffic flow and travel times for these communities. The first of these, in Perth’s southern suburb of Kelmscott, was closed in on 1 April. The new rail over road underpass, which involved lifting 850 metres of rail line, has been in use since mid-2021.
Next year METRONET’s most significant milestone to date will be delivered, as we open the $1.86 billion Forrestfield-Airport Link, delivering a new rail service to our eastern suburbs and providing a viable alternative to car travel for an expected 20,000 daily passengers while connecting Perth Airport to the CBD.
Alongside the extensive METRONET works program are major upgrades to metropolitan and regional roads, further transforming travel in and around Western Australia.
The increasing number of visitors to WA’s popular south west will have noticed construction of the region’s biggest ever road infrastructure project, Bunbury Outer Ring Road, is now underway. Once complete, the 27 kilometre, four-lane, freeway standard road will give locals and tourists better access to the BunburyGeographe area and the wider south west region. This project will create thousands of jobs as well as provide opportunities for local businesses.
In the well-known port city of Fremantle, the High Street Upgrade project is nearing completion and will improve safety, freight efficiency and traffic flow. It’s not only road traffic benefitting, walkers and bike riders are set to enjoy two new underpasses, enabling safer and better connected journeys.
Over the coming years these projects, along with many more currently under construction or in planning, in both metropolitan and regional areas, will create a transport network providing West Australians more choice in how they travel and enable communities to thrive.
Visit www.buildingfortomorrow.wa.gov.au to find out more.
BUILDING THE ROAD NETWORK THAT OUR STATE DESERVES
HON. BEN CARROLL, VICTORIAN MINISTER FOR ROADS AND ROAD SAFETY
Our road network plays a vital role in the life of every Victorian. Emerging from lockdown, it is more important than ever, whether people are reuniting with family and friends, heading back to work and school, or exploring every corner of our state.
We also know roads and infrastructure are critical to the state’s present and future, which is why we’re providing ongoing investment and attention.
Every year, we’re making thousands of kilometres of Victorian roads safer and more reliable during our annual road maintenance blitz. Since 2018, we have rebuilt and resurfaced more than 4,600 kilometres of roads state-wide.
During the most recent blitz, we improved more than 2,430 kilometres of Victorian roads– surpassing pre-blitz estimates.
We’re proud that our routine maintenance budget remains consistent year on year.
In 2021, our maintenance blitz targeted some of Victoria’s most important roads – the Western Freeway, Old Dandenong Road, Frankston-Flinders Road and Mickleham Road in metropolitan Melbourne.
In regional Victoria, works targeted essential connections including the Western, Northern, Hume and South Gippsland highways, Warrnambool-Caramut Road and McIvor-Redesdale Road.
However, we know there’s more work to be done, and drivers can expect to see crews out in force over summer, repairing and upgrading our network. In total, more than 1,300 individual road maintenance projects will be delivered between now and May 2022.
It’s not just about taking care of our existing roads; it’s also about building the road network that our state deserves.
Together with my colleague, the Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan, we’re busy delivering some of the most significant road upgrades Victoria has ever seen.
This year, a tremendous amount of work is underway across the city’s freeway network.
Collectively, crews have worked millions of hours across the M80, Monash and the new Mordialloc Freeway. These projects create the capacity needed to get drivers where they need to go safer and sooner.
Melbourne’s west has already been transformed following the completion of the $1.8 billion-dollar Western Roads Upgrade, reducing travel times by around 20 per cent.
And we’re not done yet, with a further 12 arterial roads to undergo major improvements across Melbourne’s northern and south-eastern suburbs.
This record investment into the road
David McTiernan, ARRB National Leader for Transport Safety.
network will deliver huge improvements to capacity and boost safety.
In regional Victoria, projects such as the Echuca-Moama bridge project will improve cross-border connections. At the same time, the $60.8 million Keeping Ballarat Moving project is overhauling some of the city’s most notorious traffic hotspots.
Ensuring our regional cities are equipped to deal with their status as some of the fastest-growing areas anywhere in Australia is critical.
Across the state, Victoria’s Big Build is giving a boost to our state’s economic recover – an incredible $80 billion investment and supporting more than 50,000 jobs.
In 2022, we expect our roads will continue helping the economy rebound.
For our regional towns, the road network will help facilitate the critical movement of hundreds of thousands of trucks, ferrying freight around the state – whether grain from the Wimmera, dairy from the southwest or produce from the Sunraysia.
Together with our continued investments in maintaining and expanding our public transport network, we remain focused on improving transport across Victoria – giving locals, tourists, and freight operators safer and more reliable journeys.
