Elizabeth Electorate

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (15:37): I rise today to speak about a problem and a welcome solution to a problem in my electorate. I am talking about the traffic concerns of the residents who live in that section of Craigmore which is bounded by Adams Road, Yorktown Road, Blair Park Drive and Uley Road. There has always been a problem, and more so as the suburbs have grown to the east of that particular block, of pressure on traffic getting out from Adams Road onto Yorktown Road, particularly in the morning, and those people have very little choice but to use Adams Road.

The only other options really are to use Uley Road which, of course, takes it down past Craigmore High School and that very busy precinct down towards Main North Road, or to use Blair Park Drive and go past Hope Christian College, which, again, is a very busy precinct near the Craigmore shops.

I was really pleased at the last election to be able to convince the state government to commit $1.5 million to a roundabout at that particular intersection: to plan, design and construct a new roundabout, particularly to help those residents who are turning right onto Yorktown Road from Adams Road, particularly in the morning. It is always backed up, sometimes halfway up towards Uley Road.

The pressure was on. Every time I held a street-corner meeting at Dwight Reserve or at the Craigmore shops, this issue would come up. We resolved several years ago the issue at Blair Park Drive, at the intersection near Hope Christian College, and I am really pleased that we are now working on a solution to the Yorktown Road-Adams Road intersection. I appreciate that it has been a long time coming, and I will get to that in a second.

There will be the construction of a new single-lane roundabout, new and upgraded LED lighting, new kerbs and guttering and a new entry into Dwight Reserve South, better known as Eastern Park Football Club. That is important, because early on legitimate concerns were raised by Eastern Park Football Club and by various councillors that it might affect their entry and egress and exit from their site, but I think this will improve it. I am assured that the works that are about to take place will not impact on their exit and entry, so we will see how that goes.

There will also be upgraded road surfaces to improve traffic flow and safety for all road users, new pedestrian crossing facilities on Adams Road—that is important because it connects Dwight Reserve North to Dwight Reserve South and the Eastern Park Football Club, and the Eastern Park Football Club has some spillover training on the reserve opposite near the playground—and also some relocation of signage and so on.

I am really pleased about this commitment. It is one of several commitments I made at the last election and, as I said before, I appreciate it has been a long time coming. This is the first major roundabout that I have had any particular interest in being constructed, and I am surprised at the work that goes into it and the length of time it takes.

The decision was made, obviously, at the election when the election commitment took effect, so to speak. There were community consultations. I did my own community consultation effort, but there was communication from the department throughout 2002-03 and there were both community meetings and a doorknocking and letterboxing effort by the department as well. There was a certain amount of feedback, which was overwhelmingly positive, both at my office and at the department, I am advised.

Of course, the access to Eastern Park Football Club was a major concern. There was a desire for a fourth leg as a primary access point for the Eastern Park Football Club. There are issues with that—the size of the intersection does not allow too much growth and there are also significant trees surrounding that area—but the department and Fyfe, who is the contractor, tried their best with the design and I think it has come up really well. There was a significant concern, which I agreed with, about pedestrian access, particularly from Dwight Reserve across to the Eastern Park Football Club.

Construction is beginning now. The design work has been done, the planning has been done and the construction is beginning. Yorktown Road will remain open, I am assured. There will obviously be some traffic delays along Adams Road, but Yorktown Road will remain open to traffic at all times. Most importantly, perhaps, for some of those residents, Eastern Park Football Club will be easier to access.