Safety upgrade for Reid Highway

Work to improve safety and traffic flow on a major section of Perth’s Reid Highway has begun.

The $84 million project will see the construction of four lanes across two bridges over Malaga Drive, an intersection which is used by about 75,000 vehicles each weekday.

The project involves:

• About 1.3km of four-lane dual carriageway and 1.3km of on and off-ramps.
• Two new separate two-lane bridges along Reid Highway over Malaga Drive with sealed shoulders to provide safe on-road cycling.
• A path for pedestrians and cyclists, which ties into existing paths.
• Realigning pedestrian and cyclist facilities on the east side of Malaga Drive.
• A wider Malaga Drive to provide bus lanes both directions through two sets of traffic lights.
• An optic fibre communication network, vehicle detection systems and security cameras.
• Street lighting, landscaping and safety and noise barriers.

The project is part of the $108 million project to duplicate the highway from Duffy Road to Erindale Road, and the widening of the highway from Marmion Avenue to Duffy Road.

Transport Minister Dean Nalder said it is a priority project because the intersection is the second-worst black spot intersection in the City of Swan and the 13th in Perth’s metropolitan area.

“It is part of our integrated transport plan to address problem areas and improve traffic flow in and around the city,” he said.

Mr. Nalder said plans for landscaping and noise walls were progressing with help from a reference group of local residents, Friends of Lightning Swamp, Malaga and Districts Business Association, RSPCA and the cities of Swan and Bayswater.

Georgiou Group holds the contract for the project’s design and construction. Work is due for completion by mid-2016.