REVEALED: The road black spots that need fixing in Perth

Perth Now

3 days ago

Federal and State government funding will be sought to fix road black spots in the Town of Bassendean, including a 'point and hope' intersection.
The intersections of Anzac Terrace/Ivanhoe Street, Scaddan Street/Iolanthe Street and Haig Street/Colstoun Street have been nominated for Federal or State funding for the installation of speed plateaus, mini roundabouts and better street lighting.
To be eligible for funding sites must have recorded at least five crashes in the past five years for State funding, or at least three casualty crashes within the same period for Federal funding.
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Infrastructure services director Shane Asmus said at the town's May 20 briefing session he was not sure why funding had not been sought over the past four to five years.
He said after a traffic engineer was appointed staff had 'pretty quickly' realised several intersections were eligible for Black Spot funding.
'There's about $140,000 of income coming into the town that could be used on traffic management and hopefully reducing road trauma,' Mr Asmus said.
'We won't find out until next year whether they're successful but certainly confident they will be.'
Mayor Kath Hamilton said she had no problems with the nominated sites but questioned the proposed works.
'Most of them appear to be raised elongated beds or whatever you'd like to call them,' she said.
'On the corner of Iolanthe and Broadway you obviously have a roundabout and it is a curved entry.
'That particular roundabout used to be a prime area for accidents, some of them very serious. 'You sort of hope that the other person waves to you or points to you and says you go first.' Credit: Michael Palmer
'Since they installed the curved entrance into the roundabout there's been almost no accidents so I'm curious: is it a very expensive treatment to do what has been done on that intersection as opposed to these other treatments that you're proposing?'
Mr Asmus said those works would cost more than those proposed, and there were factors such as the location of trees and services to consider.
He said roundabouts provided clarity about who had right of way at uncontrolled intersections such as Scaddan and Iolanthe streets.
'That's what we call a four-way uncontrolled intersection,' Mr Asmus said.
'I use it twice a day myself when I leave work and you have that situation where there's confusion over who should be giving way and you sort of hope that the other person waves to you or points to you and says you go first.
'It's really common on four-way intersections that you have those right-angle crashes.
'The roundabout provides that clarity over who's got priority. That's why I believe roundabouts in certain situations are really effective and that site in particular I think is a perfect position for a roundabout.'
The town is also seeking about $420,000 from Main Roads' low cost urban road safety program.
It took part in the program for the first time this year for works in Success Hill.
'What we're proposing here is the second stage ... what we call Bassendean Central which takes in the area (around) West Road,' Mr Asmus said.
'It's quite a big area there that's certainly been the subject of concerns and conversations over the last six months around traffic congestion, speeding, parking with the proposed daycare and the primary school and the like, so we think that's the highest priority to move on to next.'
The works would be staggered over two years.