Doubts over tunnel expansion to solve Perth traffic

8 March 2012

Lobby group City Gatekeepers said extra lanes in the Northbridge road tunnel in Perth, Australia would not ease congestion caused by government development plans.

The Western Australia State Government announced the AUD 57M (USD 60.68M) tunnel project on Sunday. It would add one lane in each direction to take on the extra traffic caused by closure of a road for a waterfront development project. The project will be completed by May 2013 before the development gets underway.

Group convenor and spokesman Linley Lutton said, “If the government's really gutsy enough and really understand what they're doing, then they should actually cut Riverside Drive now.

“It should be the first thing they do because what they're saying is there's not going to be a major traffic impact by this or it can be dealt with, but we know that's not the case. If they are so committed to this, let people experience it but they know that there's going to be a major problem