Snarls defeating Main Roads
Main Roads predicts traffic congestion in Perth will get worse and admits it does not have the capacity to manage it amid predictions the problem could cost the WA economy $2.1 billion by 2020.
A blunt assessment of Perth's peak-hour traffic by Auditor- General Colin Murphy yesterday revealed an agency at a crossroads with Main Roads badly ill-equipped to tackle congestion.
Mr Murphy found Main Roads had a pivotal role in supporting wider government decisions on transport by providing reliable and accurate traffic congestion information to the Department of Transport.
But of the 850km of metropolitan roads it manages, Main Roads collects comprehensive congestion data only on the 78.5km of the Kwinana, Mitchell and Graham Farmer freeways. Even then, it does not share the information with the DoT or public.
In his report, tabled in Parliament, Mr Murphy found neither Main Roads nor DoT had set clear objectives, service performance standards and targets for managing congestion.
"In part, this is because there is no overarching strategy for dealing with congestion and no agency is clearly required to lead action," he said.
As a result Main Roads could not demonstrate that its projects to address congestion made the best use of resources.
Mr Murphy found Main Roads "has recognised it does not have the capacity to manage traffic congestion effectively" and was introducing significant changes.
"It is moving from an agency that builds and manages assets to a road network manager responsible for traffic flow," he said.
In its response, included in the report, Main Roads said it established a traffic management congestion strategy in August 2013 and would clarify roles and responsibilities with DoT.
Shadow transport minister Ken Travers said the report confirmed Labor warnings that the Barnett Government lacked an overarching plan to reduce congestion. Instead, it chose projects that suited political rather than strategic aims.
Transport Minister Dean Nalder said much of the report's findings had been unearthed by Main Roads' own structural review and were being addressed.
"We can do things smarter and we must continue to grow and evolve," he said.
The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday backed WA Labor's policy for an independent body to be called Infrastructure WA to "depoliticise" the determination of the State's planning needs.
