Traffic woes along Aldgate Street has lead to one local resident’s decision to sell up.
After the construction of Aldi’s super market and recent work at Mandurah Forum’s redevelopment, David Tournay said traffic had reached an unbearable capacity.
The former lawn mower contractor has lived on the street since 1984 and said he has been lobbying local government to make changes for more than 20 years.
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Some of the main issues that concerned Mr Tournay included motorists speeding, the road alignment causing poor vision and drivers not stopping at the stop sign at the France Street intersection.
“I sit out here having a beer and watch them. They don’t stop,” he said.
“It’s a race track. I’ve got my place up for sale for that reason.
“Why has nothing happened?”
Another resident Jim Menzies said he echoed Mr Tournay’s concerns.
“The last thing we want is someone getting hurt or killed on this road,” Mr Menzies said.
Mr Tournay and Mr Menzies along with other residents, held a meeting on Thursday to establish a plan to deal with the concerns.
Among those in attendance was City of Mandurah manager of technical services Terry Blanchard, traffic and transport engineer Scott Lambie, City councillor Darren Lee and a representative for Mandurah MLA David Templeman.
Mr Blanchard and Mr Scott talked openly with attendees about potential solutions and bureaucratic processes that would need to be undertaken before long-term action was taken.
Some of the ideas the City will implement to tackle the issue in the short-term include examining the road alignment at the raised point closest to the forum in January, surveying traffic on the street in May, and 50 kilometre signs and mobile radars telling driver’s speed would be installed immediately.
Mr Blanchard said surveying vehicle use on the street needed to be complete in May, because he predicted traffic flow post-Mandurah Forum’s completion would be settled by that time.
Mr Blanchard and Mr Scott told attendees traffic pattern statistics calculated through City resources had indicated that the street wasn’t a major problem.
Despite local’s concerns about the amount of traffic Aldi would bring to the area, statistic revealed prior to construction the street received 942 vehicles per day, afterwards it received 906.
Mr Lee apologised to residents for not having measures in place sooner.
“Hopefully people change their culture about this street,” he said.
Mr Blanchard said if engineers and council decided to make changes, they would have to ensure they don’t push extra traffic onto neighbouring streets.
