And they call this a freeway?
From The West Australian
By Gareth Parker
January 26, 2006
Inconsistent
and changing speed limits are frustrating drivers and creating safety
fears among rail workers.
Perth’s most important road system,
the Kwinana and Mitchell freeways, is in a shambles from resurfacing
works, the extension of Roe Highway and building the Perth the Mandurah
railway.
A slew of changing and inconsistent speed
limits from Powis Street in the north to Berrigan Driver in the south
has motorists confused and frustrated – and police say the delays
cause drivers to take risks.
During a trip on the freeways this week,
The West Australian counted 14 changes in the speed limit in the 25km
between Powis Street and Berrigan Drive. In the opposite direction,
there were eight changes.
Virtually no one obeyed posted speed
limits in the 60kmh and 80kmh zones and the entire journey –
which started well outside peak hours at 2.30pm – took 52 minutes
at an average speed of about 60kmh.
Insp. Neil Royle, who heads the police
traffic enforcement group, called the freeways “a horror story”.
He had received regular complaints from works on the rail project
about motorists speeding through reduced speed zones and putting their
safety at risk.
Patrolmen often bore the brunt of confused
motorists who claimed not to know what the speed limit was when they
were pulled over and the confusion and long delays led motorists to
take silly risks.
The freeway chaos has hit motorists south
of the river hardest, with the Kwinana Freeway in various states of
disarray since 1998, when work began on installing a bus lane on the
Mt Henry Bridge. Since then they have had to put up with disruptions
from building dedicated bus lanes, the Canning Bridge interchange,
the duplication of the Narrows Bridge, and now Roe Highway state 7
and the railway.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister
Alannah MacTiernan said it was impossible to build a railway in the
middle of a freeway without disruptions but the end was in sight.
“We’re a community, we’re
all in this together,” she said. “Quite frankly, I think
it’s been handled pretty well.”
She said most disruptive works associated
with the railway lines and Roe Highway stage 7 would be finished by
the end of March and speed limits would return to normal.
But there would be more restrictions
when work started on new train stations at South Street, Leach Highway
and Canning Bridge, with work to continue until September or October.
The Government had decided against uniform
speed restrictions for the entirety of works.
“If you’ve got a limit all
the way along and people can’t see obvious works happening,
(they’ll) say ‘bugger this’ and ignore it,”
Ms MacTiernan said. She said the railway would take traffic off the
roads once it was open.
Resurfacing the Mitchell Freeway last night cause big southbound delays
of up to 10km to Vincent Street after access was reduced to one lane
after 7 pm.
The routine work began a fortnight
ago but holiday traffic made congestion worse.
