Latest news with #BussellHighway
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Cost of long-awaited Bussell Highway duplication in WA's South West doubles to $170m
The cost of a long-awaited road upgrade pitched as a congestion-buster for tourists heading to Western Australia's South West has blown out to $170 million as the project finally nears completion. The single-lane stretch of Bussell Highway between Capel and Busselton has long been a traffic bottleneck, particularly during holidays and long weekends when tens of thousands of tourists make the 200-kilometre drive south from Perth. Sold as a solution to those frustrations, duplicating the highway has also come at double the initial projected cost, according to figures revealed during budget estimates hearings last week. The major road project has dragged on despite the Cook government promising its completion by the end of 2024. A Main Roads spokesperson said some short-term traffic management may remain in place, but the majority of work was now complete. However, months of delays and many millions in additional spending have left some locals pondering whether it was worth the cash and time. Capel resident Corrie Young said she was unimpressed with the final product. She regularly uses the road to drive in and out of Busselton. "I'm not very happy with it at all," she said. Ms Young said the last few years had been "terrible" as construction on the road had dragged on, leaving many drivers frustrated over lane closures and speed reductions. Others were more positive. "It's fantastic, I can just zip down from the farm to Busselton. It's flat, it's smooth, it's quick," commuter Steve Jones said. In WA's Legislative Council estimates last week, Transport Minister Rita Saffioti blamed the price escalation on rising construction costs around the world. "I am very proud that we have delivered the Bussell Highway duplication," she said. "It was not an election commitment, but I was very determined to get it done, and we did it through negotiations with the Commonwealth." The Bussell Highway duplication is not the only road project that has blown out in WA's south. The cost of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road that opened late last year — now the Wilman Wadandi Highway — swelled to $1.46 billion, more than $600 million over what was initially estimated. Questions also remain around the overall benefit delivered by both projects. Curtin University researcher and former Infrastructure Australia board member Peter Newman said the development, while popular, came at the cost of alternatives. "Both of them are extraordinarily over-designed … in my view, they take up a massive amount of space," Professor Newman said. He believed the money would be better spent on electric public transport links to the South West region. "These [ideas] are not ever getting onto the agenda because of the massive amount of money that is being spent on these kinds of [road] projects."
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Automotive
- ABC News
Drivers frustrated by years of work on highway between Bunbury and Busselton
Work is still underway on a 17 kilometre stretch of road in the South West of WA, more than five years after upgrades were first announced. The duplication of the Bussell Highway began in 2020 to ease congestion between Bunbury and Busselton. However, five years on, finishing works are still going even though the highway was officially opened in April, with drivers frustrated over lane closures and speed reductions. Richelle Piggott lives in Capel and travels to Busselton five to six times a week. She said driving on Bussell Highway was "extremely frustrating". "It takes a very long time. There's a lot of different signage and I see a lot of people getting confused and unaware of the directional requirements with regards to the roadworks," Ms Piggott said. "I can see it being a very good project once it's finished. "But the constant frustration of broken promises and goal posts being moved with regards to when it's going to be finished? I battle to understand why it's taken so long." To avoid delays on the Bussell Highway, Ms Piggott said she drove along Tuart Drive, just off the Bussell Highway. Scott Olney has lived just off Tuart Drive in Ludlow for almost a decade. He said since construction on the highway began, traffic had been diverting down the single lane, tree-lined road to avoid the roadworks. "Going down south is obviously a really popular holiday destination, but the majority of traffic has been coming down Tuart Drive," Mr Olney said. "Five years ago, we used to be able to walk down Tuart Drive and people used to walk their horses along the road. "But now no-one does and I'd hazard a guess it's because there's been a 500 to 1,000 per cent increase in cars." In February, the RAC announced its top 10 riskiest roads across metropolitan and regional areas. The intersection of Bussell Highway and Tuart Drive in Yalyalup came in at number three. The intersection has already claimed multiple lives over the past 18 months. A 40-year-old motorcycle rider was killed in April last year, after the rider and a ute collided at the intersection of Tuart Drive and the highway. Just two months later, an 18-year-old woman was killed at the same intersection after a collision involving a mini-bus. Mr Olney said there should not be more fatalities on the road, which was getting busier. "The road signage is inadequate; there's no extra signage, no flashing lights saying slow down, dangerous intersection," he said. "There's other parts of the world where they've built skyscrapers in lesser time and all we've done is construct a dual highway. "The time that it's taken to complete this road [Bussell Highway] is astronomical and we're still not there." WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti announced in February last year that the Bussell Highway duplication would be open by the end of 2024. However, while the road was completed in April 2025, finishing works requiring lane closures and speed reductions are expected to continue until the end of June or early July, depending on the weather. Roadworks were also paused on the Easter and WA Day long weekends. In a statement, a state government spokesperson said the duplication was always designed as a staged project to be delivered over several years. "We appreciate these works have caused disruption and we thank the community for their patience," the spokesperson said.
