Graham Farmer Freeway a spectacular success: Minister

17/5/00
Transport Minister Murray Criddle said today that the Graham Farmer Freeway had led to a dramatic drop in traffic volumes on Riverside Drive, the Causeway and Shepperton Road.
"Cross-city motorists, both commercial and private, have embraced the new freeway and tunnel in spectacular fashion taking the pressure off inner city streets," Mr Criddle said.
"The community has left no doubt that it views this as one of the most worthwhile and beneficial projects undertaken in this city for decades.
"The value of the freeway and tunnel as a rapid and safe commercial route for east-west traffic is a major boost for the business community which has long been frustrated by inner city congestion.
"The diversion of city-through traffic to the tunnel has allowed the Government to proceed with the construction of priority bus lanes on the Causeway and the ultimate conversion of Riverside Drive into an 'urban' boulevard and the continuation of other Perth Access."
Mr Criddle said the tunnel was currently carrying between 60,000 and 80,000 vehicles daily, making it one of the most popular road tunnels in Australia.
"The vehicle count rivals the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and exceeds that city's Eastern Distributor tunnel while the recently-opened Domain Tunnel in Melbourne carries only 25-30,000 vehicles per day," the Minister said.
On April 28, five days after opening, 106,000 vehicles used the tunnel through Northbridge and for the next three consecutive days (April 29, 30 and May 1) the vehicle count was 86,000, 84,500, and 89,000 respectively.
"The one millionth vehicle passed through the Graham Farmer Freeway tunnel on May 8, 15 days after the new road was commissioned to traffic," Mr Criddle said.
"The benefits of removing all that through-traffic are self evident with walking and cycling around city streets now easier and safer.
"Main Roads' cameras around the metropolitan network show that traffic volumes have dropped on Riverside Drive, the Causeway and Shepperton Road."
Mr Criddle said there were still some teething problems with the Graham Farmer Freeway and Main RoadsWA was adjusting traffic signal sequences on East Parade, Loftus Street and Orrong Road/ Leach Highway to help overcome them.
Main Roads would also look at modifying turning or through lane requirements where appropriate.
Mr Criddle said the popularity of the Graham Farmer Freeway tunnel could be attributed to its time-saving features, with traffic maintaining speeds of between 60km/h and 80km/h even in the peak periods.
"Hundreds of people have written in or called in to say that their journey times have been cut by anything between a couple of minutes and 20 minutes," he said.
The Minister said the early problems of people stopping to take photographs or driving slowly to allow passengers to take a good look appeared to have passed. There had also been a motorcyclist stop in the tunnel to shelter from the rain.
There had been only a couple of incidents - one burst tyre where the car limped to the breakdown area outside the tunnel, and one breakdown where the tow truck arrived in three minutes to remove the vehicle from the tunnel.
Media contact: Doug Cunningham 9321 7333