Transport Minister points to ‘significant’ investment after Great Southern roads called an ‘unsafe workplace’

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti has responded to roads in the Great Southern being labelled an “unsafe workplace” by saying “significant amounts” have been invested into the region’s roads. Last week Freight Lines Group director Michael Harding told the Advertiser the roads his drivers travelled in the region were dangerous with far more bad spots than good. The region’s two busiest freight network roads, Albany Highway and South Coast Highway, were also named the third and fifth riskiest roads in regional WA in the latest RAC’s Risky Roads survey, released in August. Ms Saffioti said this week that nearly $400 million had been invested into the region’s road network over the past three financial years jointly by the Federal and State governments. “We absolutely want to provide the safest roads we possibly can, and ensuring the network is maintained and improved is a joint responsibility between all levels of government,” she said. “The reality is, we are investing significant amounts of money to upgrade, improve and maintain the road network in the Great Southern.” She said $30m had been invested for routine road maintenance in the region this financial year and more than $34m had been allocated for safety improvements over the past two financial years. She also said more than $30m had also been provided to support local governments undertake local roads maintenance over the past three financial years. Mr Harding told the Advertiser he did think this year’s road patching efforts seemed “a bit better, but at the end of the day it’s still only patching”. He was also critical of seemingly inexperienced crews being given “X amount of dollars to spend on a section of road” who were focused on doing jobs quickly rather than right. Ms Saffioti said Main Roads was in the process of bringing its roads maintenance crews back in-house “after several decades of an outsourcing model”. “Bringing road maintenance back in-house will not only deliver better outcomes for road workers, but it will also provide the Government with greater capacity to respond to known issues faster, especially in emergency situations,” she said. “The Great Southern region will transition to the in-house model at the end of this year when the current maintenance contract expires.” Ms Saffioti also addressed calls for the State Government to invest in a long-term plan to upgrade Albany Highway by Southern Haulage director Chris Pavlovich. Mr Pavlovich told the Advertiser the State Government should look beyond its four year election cycles to build 15km of overtaking lanes on the highway annually so that by the time a dual carriageway was needed it would already be there. “Duplicating the highway is not in our current plans, however we are continuing to invest in measures that improve the quality of the road including widening, sealing shoulders and constructing overtaking lanes,” Ms Saffioti said. “Works recently commenced on a project to widen a 25km section of Albany Highway between the Beaufort River and Harold Road. “$9 million worth of safety improvements are about the begin on sections of Albany Highway, Donnybrook-Kojonup Road and Great Southern Highway as part of the Regional Road Safety Improvement Program for 2022-23.”