MainRoads Western Australia has announced a new interchange at the busy Leach Highway and Welshpool intersection. Listed as one of Western Australia’s worst intersections and used by around 50,000 vehicles per day, the upgrades will greatly improve road safety and NatRoad applauds this investment in infrastructure by the Western Australian Government.
Using data to fix infrastructure is the way forward and upgrades of this kind are highly effective for reducing road fatalities, but the complete separation of light and heavy vehicles should be considered.
To get better road safety outcomes more weight should be placed on minimising the probability of road user conflicts. Road user separation, minimisation of a number of conflict points, and greater management of road user movements can all be used to provide safer outcomes. This upgrade ticks most of those boxes.
Construction has started on a new bridge taking Leach Highway over Welshpool Road, and upgrades will also include a roundabout under the new bridge, duplication of the existing Leach Highway over the railway and a shared path along Leach Highway from Sevenoakes Street to Orrong Road.
