MORE than $250 million of road safety upgrades will be rolled out across about 4000 kilometres of regional Western Australian roads this financial year, reducing the risk of run-off-road crashes and supporting local jobs, according to State and Federal MPs.
Funded through the Regional Road Safety Program, low cost treatments such as sealing existing unsealed road shoulders and installing audible edge or centre lines to warn drivers who veer over the white line, will be delivered across the State.
The Regional Road Safety Program is jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Western Australian governments, with an initial $100m of works underway already and another $158m allocated to be spent by the end of this financial year.
Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Michael McCormack said the federal government had allocated billions of dollars to road improvements across regional Australia, with $500m toward targeted road safety upgrades as part of the government's infrastructure stimulus package in June, as well as an additional $2 billion for the Road Safety Program in the 2020-21 Budget.
"This funding will be rolled out on a 'use it or lose it basis', which means the delivery of life-saving upgrades to regional roads across WA is on the horizon," Mr McCormack said.
"This is also about supporting local jobs and providing a welcome boost to local economies at the same time - we are backing our regions to drive the nation's economic recovery."
The 'use it or lose it' provisions require States and Territories to use nationally allocated funds within a timeframe, or the funds can be reallocated to projects in other jurisdictions.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said the program would roll out more potential lifesaving treatments on up to 7000 kilometres of roads across regional WA.
"As the economy rebuilds we have more people getting back to business and work, as well as people choosing to 'Wander out Yonder' in our beautiful State, it's important we make sure our roads are as safe as possible for all users," Mr McGowan said.
"This tranche of funding will provide much needed upgrades to key roads all across our State from the Kimberley to the Great Southern, supporting local jobs and providing a much-needed economic boost to the regions."
Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport Scott Buchholz said regional roads were vital to the economy-shaping work of the State's freight fleet.
"From Western Australia's world-class wool to the thriving iron-ore exports, local truckies work hard travelling the regional road network to keep the economy ticking along and businesses running by getting goods to markets," Mr Buchholz said.
"By funding road safety programs such as this, we are continuing to support the economy-shaping work while ensuring they make it home safe at the end of each trip - nothing is more important than that."
WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said work on the 34 projects funded by the $100m were already underway with another 62 projects, worth $158m to get off the ground.
"We have worked hard to secure this money and by the end of the financial year low cost treatments such as shoulder widening and the installation of audible edge lines will be rolled out across 4000km of rural roads," Ms Saffioti said.
Key projects funded through this tranche include more than $8m for upgrades to Great Northern Highway, more than $7m for North West Coastal Highway and more than $5m for upgrades to Albany Highway in Wagin.
Federal Member for O'Connor Rick Wilson said key projects funded in O'Connor included more than $9.5m for upgrades to Albany Highway for sections between Cranbrook and Mt Barker and between Williams and Arthur River.
"The upgrade to Albany Highway will save lives, save time and support jobs," Mr Wilson said.
"I have advocated for these upgrades to Albany Highway and we will be delivering them."
It's anticipated this latest tranche of works will be completed by July this year with up to 7000km of treatments in total scheduled for completion by mid-2022.
The $455m commitment to improve road safety across the State is jointly funded by the Australian and Western Australian governments.