Background
The airport is the busiest general aviation airport in Australia and is home to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Police Air Wing, Fire and Emergency Services Authority and the water bombers. There is a demonstrated need for this major infrastructure facility to have safe, adequate and convenient access to and from the eastern metropolitan region.
The development of Jandakot Airport may result in over 5300 full time employees by 2031 according to predicted figures for the future Jandakot Airport Master Plan (2014). The Department of Planning strongly supports the development of a direct eastern link connecting Jandakot Airport to Ranford Road, on the grounds of:
- safety: this is paramount at such a large airport facility and the eastern link route is an essential alternative in the case of an emergency
- convenience: it is imperative that traffic travels the shortest and most direct route to and from this Specialised Centre of regional importance
- transport integration: it is essential that this regional Specialised Centre be fully integrated into wider metropolitan road network via a direct connection onto Ranford Road, to balance traffic flows
- transport efficiency: without the eastern link road, not only will traffic have to travel a longer distance from the eastern metropolitan regions to the airport, but this will also result in a higher traffic demand on Berrigan Drive and in particular, on Karel Avenue.
Currently there are limited road connections through Jandakot Airport, with only one access road linking to Berrigan Drive and Karel Avenue.
The Jandakot Airport Master Plan (2009) outlined the proposed industrial land development within the Airport boundary to support the ‘Specialised’ status of this centre, along with the demand for additional safe and direct access routes to the site. It also states the eastern link has considerable merit as it provides alternative traffic routes to the existing Ranford Road and affords increased flexibility for airport access.
Jandakot Airport is preparing an updated Master Plan (2014), which will propose further access improvements.
Surrounding uses
A number of local and State government initiatives are proposed near the Jandakot Airport area.
These include a ‘Park and Ride’ facility and rail station south of the rail line adjacent to Ranford Road; the Canning Vale Sporting Grounds to the east of Jandakot Airport; and the existing Canning Vale Waste Facility north east of the airport site that will gain safe access from the eastern link road.
There are also important Bush Forever sites adjacent to Jandakot Airport (Ken Hurst Park and Bush Forever Site 388), to which impact should be minimised.
Canning Vale sports master plan
The Canning Vale Sports Master Plan has emerged from recognition that active sporting spaces in the Canning and Gosnells municipal areas are in high and increasing demand.
The project is investigating the potential for a 120 hectare parcel of land east of Jandakot Airport to be developed as a sporting and recreational precinct to address this demand.
Through research, public consultation and specialist studies, a number of opportunities and constraints have been identified and an indicative site layout prepared to illustrate how the site could be developed.
This draft Master Plan is expected to be advertised for public comment during September and October. Once responses submitted during the consultation phase have been collated, the draft Master Plan will be reviewed and finalised. From then, it will be used to underpin further feasibility studies and demand assessment, detailed design work and requests for funding.
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to select a preferred alignment and define the road reservation requirements for the future eastern link road between Jandakot Airport and Ranford Road in Canning Vale. Preliminary investigations shortlisted the road options to three alignments. These options included:
- option 1 - The Lothian Road reservation connecting Jandakot Airport to Ranford Road
- option 2 - South of Johnston Road reservation (adjacent Waste Disposal Facility) connecting Jandakot Airport to Ranford Road
- option 3 - An extension of Bannister Road, connecting the Ranford Road / South Street intersection to Jandakot Airport (Skirting Ken Hurst Park)
Multi-criteria analysis
A preferred option was selected using a multi-criteria analysis (MCA).
The MCA compared the performance of the shortlisted options for environmental, social and economic criteria. The results of the MCA indicated that Option 2 (Adjacent to the waste disposal facility) was the preferred alignment for the Jandakot Airport Eastern Link Road.
The reasons for this preference are:
- reduced environmental impacts since the alignment is likely to have a lower impact on Threatened Flora or priority Threatened Fauna habitat, as it mostly impacts the periphery of a disturbed area of Bush Forever Site 388;
- the potential benefit of providing a clear demarcation between the waste disposal facility and Bush Forever Site 388, which would protect Bush Forever Site 388 and the unaffected area of Conservation Category Wetland UFI 6911 from further development encroachment and provide a “buffer” to allow for rehabilitation of previously degraded areas on the southern side of the new link road;
- it impacts the existing access and an operational area of the waste disposal facility, with no impacts on residential or private business properties;
- provides direct connection opportunities to Jandakot Airport and other priority sites, with less traffic impacts on local roads and existing intersections than the other two options;
- reduced construction costs compared to the other options, with minimal constructability issues, new structures or impact on utility services; and
- it provides direct access opportunity for the proposed sporting facility to Ranford Road with minimal impact on the proposed sporting facility layout plans.
The outcome of the MCA was subject to sensitivity analysis, which incorporated changes to the weighting of different criteria. In all of the sensitivity assessments, the Option 2 alignment remained the preferred option providing confidence in the results of the MCA analysis.
The Department of Planning supports this preferred road alignment and will progress with the road design and the process to include the road reservation in the Metropolitan Region Scheme.
Where to from here?
- the road design will be finalised ensuring the impacts to Bush Forever areas are minimised and connections to the Park and Ride, Waste Disposal Facility, Sporting Grounds and Jandakot Airport are seamless.
- the community’s views will be presented in a report to the WAPC to initiate an MRS Amendment to include the new road reservation.
- during the MRS Amendment process there is a three month formal community consultation period through which the members of the community can submit feedback on the road reservation.
