Will new freeway merge marking lines help ease Perth traffic?
A fix to Perth’s famous merging issue is here, thanks to millions of dollars worth of new paint.
The WA government will spend $8.5 million to upgrade and paint more line markings on our roads in a new effort to ease Perth traffic congestion.
From a statement sent to Perth media last week:
“The improvements will take place at all on-ramps to the Kwinana and Mitchell freeways and at five off-ramps,” Transport Minister Nalder said.
“At on-ramps, the improvements involve using a better defined merge line between the on-ramp and the freeway traffic lanes that improves merging behaviour.”
See Also: How to Merge in Perth
At the five off-ramps the merge will be removed completely to create an exclusive exit lane. This has already been put in place at Hutton Street, and has helped ease congestion.
The changes to the merge follows a recent Main Roads trial of different merge-line treatments to on-ramps. This resulted in consistently fewer ‘merge events’ where drivers swerved or braked. It has also reduced vehicle queue lengths on the on-ramps by up to 50 metres.
The Minister said the works would start on the Kwinana Freeway, beginning in July.
All 45 on-ramp locations on Mitchell and Kwinana freeways will be completed in 2015-16 and the remaining 32 locations on Reid, Roe and Tonkin highways will be finished by mid-2017.
Will $8.5 million in new road lines help ease the traffic in Perth ? Will Perth drivers finally learn how to merge?
Join the conversation at @tweetperth #PerthMerge
Video: How to Merge, by WA Police
What does Perth have to say so far about the topic?
@tweetperth it’s the infrastructure not the drivers, everywhere else has far longer merge lanes. I’ve been to plenty of places with worse
— Meh (@Blahdeblahism) June 29, 2015
@Blahdeblahism @tweetperth Perth drivers are genuinely bad- don’t indicate, can’t merge, cant roundabout, unable to turn while accelerating
— The Bert Locker (@BertGoldsmith) June 29, 2015
@tweetperth Perth is worst in Australia at merging and I’ve lived or worked in all capitals. Never understood why. Still… I Love Perth
— Andy Oz (@AndyOz2) June 29, 2015
@tweetperth yes. Perth drivers gave no idea on how to merge. They need signs!
— Leo Y (@cyclonicleo) June 29, 2015
(Correction) $8.5million to solve #Perth‘s merge problem? http://t.co/SUAIZyJwEo pic.twitter.com/AQA1JTLHim #perthnews pic.twitter.com/6AXRQT72Al
— Tweet Perth (@tweetperth) June 29, 2015
@tweetperth Or, you know, just teach drivers how to merge like every other country.
— Laurie James. (@ItsLaurieJ) June 29, 2015
@tweetperth will cause MORE traffic problems. Cars on the dedicated exit lanes cause traffic chaos swerving back across traffic.
— Rex Haw (@Rexfiles) June 29, 2015
@tweetperth wont make any difference IMO- Its not like merging is hard / we dont know how…people are just rude and lazy! #perthmerge
— hannah (@_hannahbc) June 29, 2015