Question Without Notice No. 587 asked in the Legislative Council on 12 September 2017 by Hon Tjorn Sibma
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
MITCHELL FREEWAY — WIDENING
587. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the minister representing the Minister for Transport:
(1) Can the minister confirm that funding allocated by the previous Liberal–National government to widen the Mitchell Freeway from Hodges Drive to Hepburn Avenue and from Reid Highway to Erindale Road has been cancelled by the McGowan Labor government?
(2) Did the Main Roads department previously identify these two cancelled projects as a means of improving the performance of the Mitchell Freeway?
(3) Now that the projects have been cancelled, how does the government plan to address bottlenecks at Erindale Road, Whitfords Avenue and Ocean Reef Road?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) The government has allocated funding to road network priority projects, including widening the Mitchell Freeway southbound between Cedric Street and Vincent Street. The projects to widen Mitchell Freeway from Hodges Drive to Hepburn Avenue and from Reid Highway to Erindale Road will be considered as part of future budgetary processes.
(2)–(3) The two projects to widen Mitchell Freeway from Hodges Drive to Hepburn Avenue and from Reid Highway to Erindale Road are part of an overall strategy to improve performance of the Mitchell Freeway and cannot proceed before completion of southbound widening from Cedric Street to Vincent Street. This project is fully funded and completion is expected in late 2019. The project will result in four continuous lanes between Erindale Road and Vincent Street, reducing merging bottlenecks and improving congestion and safety along the freeway.