Turner Road blackspot upgrade given green light by Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes

A redevelopment project for a major thoroughfare in Bridgetown has now been given the green light to start after the local Shire approved the funding needed for the works.

At Thursday’s Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire council meeting it was approved to allocate $35,000 from the Shire’s subdivision reserve funds and put it towards the Turner Road blackspot project.

The nearly half-a-million dollar project seeks to improve the intersections of Turner Road and Thompson Street and Turner Road and Hassell Street, as well as improving the drainage system near Thompson Street.

Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire president John Bookless said the major redevelopment to Turner Road had been under planning for some time and now with the funding available the works could start as soon as possible.

“All of our roads have been on the books for a long, long time,” he said.

“We would be hoping to get the construction on the developments started before winter so the weather does not slow down the work too much.”

Mr Bookless said much of the funding had come from the Commonwealth Government’s Blackspot Program and now, with the last amount of money allocated, the vital works could start.

“The works are very important for safety and for the people who live in and around that area,” he said.

“You really take your life in your hands when you pull out of the (Turner Road and Thompson Street) intersection because visibility is so poor.

“The road in certain parts has just fallen to pieces, I mean there are sections where the kerb stone is gone and just goes into the gravel and now we have the funding available it is just about getting the job complete.”

Some of the major redevelopments to the roads include relaying the asphalt at the Thompson Street intersection for $5000, unblocking a culvert at the same intersection where the build up of water has caused severe damage to the road and adding rock pitching around the culvert for $10,000.

Another job includes completely tearing up and relaying the kerbing and asphalt at the Hassell Street intersection due to the very poor condition of the road at a cost about $20,000.

The entire project has been allocated $444,650 through the combined Blackspot Projects grant and Shire reserve funding.