My first 18 months with Main Roads has been an enormous learning curve, filled with exciting projects and initiatives with the promise of many more to come. I’ve had the pleasure of travelling to each of our regional offices to meet our dedicated employees and see the great work that is being done throughout the State.

Major projects such as the Esperance Port Access Corridor, Fitzgerald River National Park Improvement and Gascoyne River Flood Reinstatement Works have been a huge success, improving efficiency and safety along some of our State’s most important regional corridors.

This year also saw the launch of our new 2020 Strategic Framework. Underpinned by our vision of Smart Roads, Safe Journeys the strategy has been created to inspire leadership, innovation, sustainability and productivity in everything that we do to help us achieve our purpose of moving people and freight safely, reliably and efficiently on WA roads.

What we’ve been up to…

We’ve accomplished a lot this year, delivering a number of significant projects and continuing work on many others. Delivering $2.131 billion of road programs and services whilst achieving 97% expenditure against our budget provides another excellent outcome for the organisation.

Some of our most significant accomplishments include:

• Great Eastern Highway Upgrade – Kooyong Road to Tonkin Highway being awarded Civil Contractors Federation National Earth Award in October 2013. The project was delivered via an alliance nine months ahead of schedule and under budget whilst achieving an outstanding safety record.
• The opening of the Wallwork Road Bridge over the BHPB Iron Ore Rail Line in Port Hedland – delivered on behalf of the Town of Port Hedland the bridge will reduce traffic congestion and improve safety in the area.
• The opening of Point Lewis Roundabout – the first intersection in Western Australia to have roundabout metering. further information about the project can be found in the Road Safety section.
• Completion of the first stage of the Gateway WA project with the Abernethy Road and Tonkin Highway Interchange being opened to traffic in early 2014.
• The opening of the Esperance Port Access project in April 2014 which will support the expanding mining and agriculture industries of the region and position Esperance as a competitive player in the import/export market.

What we’ve achieved…

Our business and support activities continue to focus on effective environmental management, enhancing our relationships and developing and maintaining the safety, health and wellbeing of our people. It’s through these drivers that we aim to work smarter across the organisation to deliver on our strategic priorities and provide excellent service to the travelling public.

Some of our key business achievements include:

• Being recognised as a finalist at the Premiers Awards in the Developing the Economy category for the creation of the Over-Size Over-Mass (OSOM) Unit.
• Reaching 20,000 followers for our Perth_Traffic Twitter account, the highest of any State Government agency surpassing the WA Police and Transperth.
• City East Alliance becoming the first project in Australia to be recognised by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia with an As Built Infrastructure Sustainability rating of Commended.
• Winning the Engineering for Regional Communities category of the Engineers Australia 2013 Engineering Excellence Awards for the Eelup Roundabout Upgrade.
• The Fatal Crash Analysis Project receiving a High Commendation from the Injury Control Council of Western Australia in Innovation Excellence at the 2014 Injury and Prevention and Safety Excellence Awards.

Looking Ahead…

2013 saw Main Roads earmarked as the lead agency in the State Government’s action to ease congestion on WA roads. It’s a tough, multifaceted job that has seen us come together as an organisation to deliver our Traffic Congestion Management Program (TCMP) comprising innovative, practical and low cost solutions to improve the public’s driving experience and Keep Perth Moving.

Work also continues on Gateway WA with a range of projects being planned and progressed to alleviate congestion and provide improvements to traveller information. In addition to this, the high profile Perth Freight Link project has been announced and will provide a safe and efficient freight link from Muchea to the Fremantle Port. This will be one of the largest projects ever undertaken by Main Roads. It presents significant challenges that I’m sure we will meet to deliver great benefits to all Perth road users.

Our regional operating landscape continues to undergo significant change. To better meet the needs of our growing State and deliver services in a sustainable way, we’ve reviewed our operating model and have amalgamated several of our regional offices. Coming into effect on 1 July, the Wheatbelt North and South regions have been joined to form the Wheatbelt Region, and the Mid-West and Gascoyne are now Midwest-Gascoyne region. Off the back of this change, we’ll continue to look at other opportunities to improve our delivery of services across Western Australia in line with changing expectations and needs.

As we move forward we share the challenge of operating in a lean economic environment that pushes us to consider smarter, more efficient ways of doing business to deliver value to all road users. It’s a challenge that we’ll tackle head on as custodians of the WA road network as we work together with our portfolio partners to provide exceptional customer service and manage both the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Thank you…

I’d like to thank all of our employees who through a culture of hard work, collaboration and ingenuity have contributed to the positive progress we continue to make in the face of the challenges presented by our growing State. I look forward to the year ahead as I serve the people of Western Australian with the support of everyone at Main Roads.

 

Steve Troughton
Managing Director