Managing Director's Message
I joined Main Roads Western Australia on 11 February. Prior to that, I spent just over five years in Queensland and a number of years in the Middle East and the United Kingdom in infrastructure project management. I began my career as a road and bridges engineer and after working in a range of civil engineering and management roles I can honestly say that taking on the role of Managing Director of an organisation that has such a great history and reputation is something to which I have aspired.
My introduction to Main Roads and Western Australia has made for a fascinating and exciting start. Within the first few weeks of joining the organisation, I found myself in the thick of our incident management processes as we prepared for and responded to the impacts of Cyclone Rusty in the north of the State, followed by bushfires in Upper Swan and around the Bullsbrook area. Around the same time, I joined the Prime Minister to celebrate the official opening of Great Eastern Highway Kooyong Road to Tonkin Highway Project, which was completed on budget and more than six months ahead of schedule. I also had the honour of welcoming the 2012 West Australian ‘Australian of the Year’ Dr Donna Cross to Main Roads as we celebrated International Women’s Day.
Operational Performance
Over the last year we delivered more than $1.9 billion of road programs and services to the people of Western Australia. Our performance in achieving 99% expenditure against our budget was an excellent outcome and there were many other outstanding achievements throughout the year. The following are some of our more significant accomplishments:
- In October 2012 Minister Buswell, along with his Federal counterpart, announced the alliance partners for delivery of what Engineers Australia has called ‘the State’s most important interchange where road, rail and air services intersect’ – the Gateway WA Project. This $1 billion project is our largest ever road project which started with the construction of a new on-ramp from Abernethy Road to Tonkin Highway in March 2013.
- The Great Eastern Highway/Roe Interchange project valued at just under $102 million was completed in September 2012 and came in $11 million under budget. This intersection carries around 60,000 vehicles per day and will increase to 90,000 by 2021. The completion of these works is an important initiative in improving efficiency and reducing congestion on this part of the network.
- As part of delivering the $118 million Grain Freight Program, which impacts on 15 Local Governments across the Wheatbelt, we are managing a total of 64 projects that will see more than 430 kilometres of State and local roads upgraded with the majority of work already completed.
- March 2013 saw the opening of the Dampier Highway duplication project valued at just under $113 million. The project will benefit local residents by reducing travel times by up to 25%. It also provides benefits to heavy haulage operators who now have safer and more efficient access through the industrial areas on the Burrup Peninsula.
- The City East Alliance delivered the upgrade of Great Eastern Highway between Tonkin Highway and Kooyong Road which has increased capacity on this road by 70%. The project included many innovations and an Australian first in achieving a Commendable ‘As Built’ rating under the new Infrastructure Sustainability rating scheme.
- In May 2013 Stage Two of the $170 million Bunbury Port Access Project was officially opened providing improved access to the Port for heavy vehicles and improved safety. The Bunbury Outer Ring Road is delivering better social outcomes with heavy vehicles now being diverted from urban areas.
- The completion of additional lanes in the Northbridge Tunnel and associated works during April was another significant achievement and increased the capacity of the tunnel by 30,000 vehicles per day. Between 2000 and 2013, more than 380 million vehicles have passed through the tunnel. Prior to the upgrade, the Tunnel was already carrying almost 100,000 vehicles every weekday, making it one of the busiest road tunnels in Australia.
We deliver many projects throughout the State aimed at achieving our program outcomes. More information is included throughout this report and is constantly updated on our website and through our Twitter feeds.
Other Business Activities
Our other business activities provide essential support services in the delivery of our projects and ongoing operation and management of the road network. These include environmental management; enhancing our relationships; developing our people; and safety, health and wellbeing. The following are some of our significant achievements in these areas:
- We have once again taken a leadership role in promoting the value and benefits derived from sustainability by adopting and promoting Australia’s only comprehensive rating system for evaluating sustainability of our infrastructure. The Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia’s rating scheme is helping us embed sustainability into our practices.
- We continue to use the Global Reporting Initiative as we remain focussed on our commitment to achieve a fully integrated reporting framework that meets international standards of transparency and accountability.
- Our strong focus on improving our approach to customer service and community engagement continues to be well received with 94% of the community rating our performance as okay or better. In addition, this year we carried out our biennial Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey aimed at gauging our stakeholders’ satisfaction with their interactions and business dealings with us. It was pleasing to see that 94% of our stakeholders rated us as being okay or better up from 92% in 2011.
- We continue to enhance our traveller information with an updated website, a growing Twitter following, and we recently launched a You Tube channel. Last year our Contact Information Centre handled more than 150,000 calls and almost 21,000 e-mail enquiries.
- With 48% of our workforce already over 50, and almost 50% of our workforce with fewer than 10 years’ experience at Main Roads, our approaches to knowledge capture, knowledge transfer and competency development are important elements of our workforce planning. Throughout the year we have continued to focus on targeted development programs offering a range of learning opportunities through formal academic approaches to on-the-job mentoring and coaching.
Looking Ahead
Our budget next financial year represents our largest ever capital program with more than $1 billion in works to be delivered. Whilst the enormous construction program that we have seen recently in the resources sector has softened, the delivery of a program of this size represents a significant challenge for Main Roads, but one that we are well positioned to meet.
We have already started work on Gateway WA and there are a range of projects scheduled to alleviate traffic congestion issues including ongoing improvements to providing traveller information. Work will commence on Stage 2 of the upgrade on Great Northern Highway between Muchea and Wubin and we will see the completion of the Esperance Port Access Corridor in December 2013.
Next year will also see the full roll out of the benefits being derived from the increased funding available through the Road Trauma Trust Account as we continue to strive towards delivering ‘a safe road system for our children, grandchildren and the community’. For more information on our project activities I would encourage you to visit the Projects Section under Building Roads on our website.
I look forward to the challenges ahead as I serve the people of Western Australia while being so ably supported by everyone at Main Roads.
Steve Troughton
Managing Director
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