New roundabout for Eaton Drive

A new roundabout on one of Eaton’s major entryways and further upgrades at a notorious Forrest Highway intersection have featured in the latest round of black spot funding.

A $500,000 roundabout will be constructed at the Lavender Way and Eaton and Blue Wren drives intersection under the State Government road safety program.

A further $100,000 has also been allocated to the Forrest Highway and Hynes Road intersection, which has received major attention over the past 12 months following several fatal and serious crashes.

The funding has been welcomed by Dardanup shire president Mick Bennett and Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray.

Cr Bennett said the shire was fortunate to be benefiting from the road safety funding.

“Eaton Drive was always going to need upgrades due to the increasing traffic volumes and there’ll only be more accidents if we don’t do something in that area,” Cr Bennett said.

He said the Forrest Highway intersection was another spot that would need ongoing attention.

The latest upgrades will see construction of a north right-turn acceleration lane and improved visibility.

“It’s improved out of sight from what it was previously, but any more improvements would be much appreciated from our community I believe,” Cr Bennett said.

Mr Murray said the funding reinforced the Government’s commitment to improving road safety.

“Residents often tell me about different roads that are unsafe for local motorists – I’m glad we are now able to address some of these concerns,” Mr Murray said.

“Making improvements to roads that we know to have crash history, is so important to ensuring road users in our area get home safely to their families each day.”

The Ludlow North and Stirling roads intersection in the Shire of Capel will also be upgraded as part of the latest funding with $20,000 allocated.

That will be used to widen the intersection, remove roadside vegetation and upgrade signs and delineation.

Roads in the Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup will also be upgraded with $120,000 allocated to Irishtown Road and $70,000 for Southampton Road.

The Black Spot Program targets improvements to roads with proven crash history.