The halfway mark on Southern Estuary Road where ownership transfers from the City of Mandurah to the Shire of Waroona.
NO SPEED restrictions apart from the 110km/h statewide limit on a 10-kilometre stretch of Southern Estuary Road is a cause for concern for local residents.
Lake Clifton-Herron Progress and Sporting Association president Tracey Timmins said more than 800 residents in the rural residential area have had road safety concerns for years.
Working with local authorities, Roadwise and Main Roads in 2009, the association managed to introduce speed zones on sections of the road but had no luck with enforcing a signed speed limit on the 10km section.
Mrs Timmins said Main Roads Bunbury gave the go-ahead with enforcing an 80km/h speed limit on the section of the road in 2011 but were road-blocked by local authorities.
She said with 5km of the road owned by the City of Mandurah and 5km owned by the Shire of Waroona, both authorities needed to approve the project.
“Under the agreement Main Roads would install the speed signs and maintain the road while the local authorities would install the centre white line on the roadway,” she said.
Mrs Timmins said she was told both authorities had to agree on allocating funds to the project but neither allocated it in their 2011/12 or 2012/13 budgets.
Shire of Waroona chief executive officer Ian Curley said: “The cost estimate to install a centreline on the Waroona portion Southern Estuary Road was in the order of $19,000 (inc GST)”.
“The Shire costed the project and included funds in the initial draft annual works budget to cover the installation of the line marking,” he said.
“The project was removed after the Shire learnt that the City of Mandurah had not included funds in its budget to carry out line marking on its section of the road.”
“The councils don’t seem to give a damn,” Mrs Timmins said.
“With motorists able to legally travel at 110kmh, the road has the potential to be the scene of a major accident. It has seven intersections, most of which are on sharp bends, and the road has several right angle bends along the 10 kilometres.
“School kids, large kangaroos and wallabies frequently appear on the roadway without warning.
“It’s not safe for anyone.”
The City of Mandurah has been contacted for a response to this story.
