Ordinary Meeting of Council 28 July 2021 5.1 MARSHALL ROAD DUPLICATION (BEECHBORO ROAD NORTH TO DRUMPELLIER DRIVE) Ward: (Altone Ward) (Project Management) Disclosure of Interest: Nil Authorised Officer: (Executive Manager Operations) KEY ISSUES • Marshall Road, between Beechboro Road North and Drumpellier Drive serves as an important link between the Urban Growth Corridor, Tonkin Hwy and the Malaga Industrial Area. • Traffic counts conducted in September 2019 indicate that 12,844 vehicles per day travel on the single carriage way. Due to recent road upgrades, urban growth and the future Metronet rail line, traffic volumes are anticipated to shortly exceed 15,000 vehicles per day, warranting duplication of Marshall Road. • The first stage of the duplication is the proposed upgrade of the intersection at Marshall Road and Beechboro Road North to a dual lane roundabout, for which $2.5M has been recently received from the State Government. Further stages are to be proposed and costed following the completion of detailed design and planning. There is $1.1M on the 2021/22 capital budget to progress the project to a construction ready state including detailed design, service locating, utility relocation and planning reports. • City officers have completed the 15% concept design and undertaken community consultation for the proposed works. Sixteen responses were received of which there were four objections, four neutral and eight in favour. • Responses of support focused on items such as; the upgrade improving safety, reducing traffic congestion and improving pedestrian/cyclist accessibility. • Responses in objection raised concerns with loss of land, requests for right turn movements, impacts to property rear access, changes to boundary access restrictions and a request for traffic lights instead of a roundabout. It is recommended that the Council resolve to proceed with the construction of the roundabout at the intersection of Marshall Road and Beechboro Road North at a cost of $2.5M as provided by the state government, proceed with the detailed design and planning for the duplication of Marshall Road between Beechboro Road North and Drumpellier Drive at a cost of $1.1M as included on the 2021/22 capital works program, and continue to update the Long Term Financial Plan with the proposed costing and staging of the project as further detailed estimates are conducted. Ordinary Meeting of Council 28 July 2021 BACKGROUND Marshall Road is classified as a District Distributor A, providing a high degree of connectivity to primary and/or other distributor roads. It serves as an important link between the Urban Growth Corridor, Tonkin Hwy and the Malaga Industrial Area. Traffic counts conducted in September 2019 indicate that 12,844 vehicles per day travel on the single carriage way. Increasing traffic on recently constructed major connecting roads such as Drumpellier Drive and NorthLink Stage 2 has further increased demand on Marshall Road. Congestion is a regular occurrence during peak hours and is expected to further increase with the urban expansion of surrounding suburbs and completion of the Metronet Morley to Ellenbrook line. Traffic volumes will shortly exceed 15,000 vehicles per day which is the traffic threshold where duplication is recommended. The City intends to stage the duplication over several years. The first stage of the project is the proposed construction of a dual lane roundabout at the intersection of Marshall Road and Beechboro Road North. The City recently received $2.5M from the State Government for the construction of the roundabout, which is intended to commence in 2021/22 to coincide with Metronet’s upgrade of Beechboro Road North. The timing of further stages has yet to be determined. This will be proposed following the progression of detailed design and approvals to obtain detailed cost estimates and prepare a suitable funding approach, for Council’s consideration through the Long Term Financial Plan and Annual Budgeting processes. The City has completed a 15% concept design for the duplication of Marshall Road between Beechboro Road North and Drumpellier Drive in Bennett Springs. Prior to progressing to detailed design, the City has consulted with the local community. DETAILS In April 2021, City staff undertook community consultation for the Marshall Road duplication, with letters being delivered to adjacent frontages. Additionally, a 'Have Your Say' page was set up on the City’s website and was also advertised in the local newspaper, to target the wider community. As part of this consultation, sixteen responses were received of which there were four objections, four neutral and eight in favour. The responses of support focused on items such as; the upgrade improving safety, reducing traffic congestion and improving pedestrian/cyclist accessibility. The objections received are summarised in the table below, with full statements provided in the attachments. Ordinary Meeting of Council 28 July 2021 Concerns Officers' Response Loss of land. • The City has as far as practicable designed the duplication and proposed roundabouts to minimise requirements for land acquisition whilst balancing geometry and alignment to current design standards. • City staff will liaise with property owners regarding any land acquisition once extents have been refined. Impacts to rear • Some of the properties along Marshall Road have rear access access of properties onto Marshall Road. At this stage the City does not anticipate the duplication will impact the access, however in the event where an access will be impacted the City will contact the property owner to discuss alternatives. • West of Bennett Brook the second carriageway is to be constructed north of the existing road, which avoids the properties of concern. • Properties with rear accesses should have appropriate development approval for the secondary crossover. Request for right • The proposed intersection treatments have been designed turn movements to with traffic flow and safety in mind. Marshall Road is properties. anticipated to carry more than 15,000 vehicles per day and having multiple side streets and crossovers with full access movements onto this major road would obstruct traffic flow which could in turn result in accidents. • The roundabouts proposed as part of the works provide a safer alternative to right turn movements and are appropriately spaced to mitigate inconvenience to users. Request for traffic • In line with Main Road WA's Guidelines for the Selection of lights instead of Intersection Control, roundabouts are preferred over traffic roundabouts. signals. • Roundabouts provide significant safety benefits for vehicular traffic by slowing down traffic, reducing the number of conflict points and reducing the angle of potential conflict. Security of rear • Marshall Road already exists as a single carriageway. The property lots. addition of a second carriageway is not expected to have any impact on the security of residential properties. Noise walls will be • If required, noise modelling will be carried out prior to required due to construction works and the recommendations from the report additional traffic will be reviewed and implemented accordingly. noise. Ordinary Meeting of Council 28 July 2021 Duplication is not • Traffic counts conducted in February 2019 indicate that 12,844 required. vehicles were using this section of Marshall Road. • Traffic volumes on Marshall Road are expected to increase significantly in future with increasing population growth and the Metronet rail line. • It is recommended that district distributor roads such as Marshall Road, should be duplicated once traffic volumes exceed 15,000 vehicles per day. Whilst traffic volumes on Marshall Road are not yet at this volume, it is anticipated to reach and exceed this trigger in the near future. Boundary access • For safety reasons access is not permitted on to the deflection crossover of a roundabout. restrictions due to opening on to the • The City will contact and work with any properties to relocate roundabout impacted crossovers to a safer location. deflection. As per the above comments, staff will work to address comments where appropriate through the detailed design process, however generally City staff consider that the project should proceed due to the anticipated traffic generation and network implications. City staff therefore recommend that Council resolve to proceed with the detailed design for the duplication of Marshall Road in 2021/22, in order for staff to seek relevant approvals and determine estimated costs and an appropriate funding strategy for the project. The cost and timing of future proposed stages will be reported to Council for approval via the Long Term Financial Plan and Annual Budget processes. City staff also recommend that Council proceed with construction of the roundabout at the intersection of Marshall Road and Beechboro Road North in the 2021/22 financial year, in order to coincide with Metronet’s upgrade of Beechboro Road North. The State Government commitment of $2.5M is anticipated to cover all project costs for the roundabout works. It is noted that the upgrade of the intersection is required for safety and capacity purposes whether or not the duplication proceeds. CONSULTATION As part of the planning phase, City officers undertook community consultation in April 2021 with letters being delivered to properties fronting the work and a 'Have Your Say' page set up on the City’s website. This project was also advertised in the local newspaper.