INDEPENDENT Midland candidate Sarah Howlett says there are some big traffic issues in Midland and the smarter thing would be to do a traffic study of the whole area first to understand where the problems are and have a look at the solutions before spending anymore money.

Ms Howlett, who is a City of Swan Midland Guildford ward councillor, said Clayton Street, Robinson Road, Cale Street and the closing of the Helena Street crossing were causing big issues.

“People are telling me in Koongamia, Helena Valley, Boya, Greenmount, Swan View that they’re not coming to Midland because it’s too difficult to get in,’’ she said.

“So that is very upsetting for the Midland business district – they’re choosing to shop in High Wycombe, Mundaring, Swan View not Midland.

The Robinson Road level crossing was closed to make way for the Bellevue railcar depot.

“Robinson Road obviously is still being raised as an issue – two years on there has been no movement there.’’

She said she had heard that up to 20 businesses had closed down but she hadn’t had that data validated.

“The level crossing at Cale Street and the access to that level crossing from Cale Street across is fraught with danger – having to turn left to do a permitted U-turn onto Victoria Street then left onto Cale Street is how you access that crossing from here – that’s how you get to the other side of the railway line.

“The other problem is when you are heading north from Cale Street you have to run the gauntlet of Victoria Street to come to the small little exchange to be able to turn right to go back up Great Eastern Highway.

“And if you’re turning right it’s all those problems – if you are turning right heading east to go right onto Cale Street to go to the crossing traffic is banking up in all directions.

“It’s become a very bespoke road network that is fraught with one-way streets, permitted U-turns, single lane access and this is the metropolitan regional centre of Midland and that’s a problem.’’

As a strategic centre DevelopmentWA have control over so much of the area but she said the traffic issues were all caused by DevelopmentWA – they’re all state government planning problems.

“Well before the station was being constructed and at the planning stages that intersection was raised by the Metronet community consultation group of which I was a community member and we were asking why is the level crossing being opened there because (it) was state government policy (to not open them).’’

Another question was how were people meant to access the crossing and this was what they’ve come up with.

In relation to comments by self-confessed train obsessive Kevin McQuoid from a railway family that the Cale Street level crossing in Midland should have followed a Horseshow bridge solution she said it was possible but it had been said to her that overpasses wouldn’t work because WA’s freight ran on double height containers and that’s where the amount of road you needed to create the ramp didn’t exist.

“But if they’d moved the freight line like they were meant to we wouldn’t necessarily have this issue – that’s another problem in itself.

“The other problem it’s caused by closing Helena Street crossing is that from the Coal Dam development (people) have to access through Amherst Road around the primary school and then exit over the Morrison Road crossing – that banks up so far and you can get caught at that boom gate for 20 minutes, which means people in Woodbridge can’t actually leave their community because of the traffic banking up.

“(One) answer is to put an underpass, a grade separation at Morrison Road – I don’t know if that the right answer as that’s going to reclaim the primary school and I don’t know where we’re driving the traffic – the smarter thing would be doing a traffic study...before we spend another dollar trying to do a little patch work.’’