A PROPOSED roundabout connecting Hawkevale Road and Range Court on Kalamunda Road seeks to remove access to Kalamunda Road from Range View Road by shutting down the connecting segment from Berle Way, diverting traffic instead to a roundabout connecting Hawkevale Road and Range Court.
Sparrow Early Learning Centre business operations manager Ashleigh Lindsay said the closure of Range View Road would negatively impact her business, which sits on the corner of Berle Way and Range View Road.
“Our families love the convenience of being able to jump off Roe Highway to do the early morning drop off or late afternoon pickup and these changes will add additional travel time.
“If these changes proceed, they will have a big negative impact on our business and make it much more difficult for many of our families to drop off and pick-up their children at our service,” she said.
Ms Lindsay believes the current Range View Road and Kalamunda Road intersection is safe and said in the six years she has worked at the service she has never seen a car accident there.
Range Court resident Hein Von Benecke said he bought his property on the cul-de-sac last November and has only recently become aware of the proposed changes.
He said the changes could possibly ease traffic woes on Kalamunda Road, but could also have an adverse impact on the residents of Range Court.
“It’s going to affect all the residents of this street because it’s now going to become the main access point.
“The traffic noise is already quite bad from Kalamunda Road as well, I’m sure this will just make it even worse,” he said.
Mr Von Benecke said that turning Range Court into an intersection would also create accessibility issues for residents trying to enter or leave their property.
City of Kalamunda Mayor Margaret Thomas said the big jacaranda tree on the corner of Range Court and Range View Road would not be removed under the proposed changes, and that from the traffic study carried out at the intersection, the two options investigated were either a roundabout or traffic signals.
“The roundabout provided the best solution to treat accidents, provide safe access to Kalamunda Road from Hawkevale Road and Range Court and delivers better traffic flow while controlling speeds on Kalamunda Road,” Cr Thomas said.
The City of Kalamunda’s phase one community consultation surrounding changes to Kalamunda Road began in 2019, in which residents were surveyed and chose to turn Kalamunda Road into a lower capacity main street, after 63.1 per cent of the respondents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the current intersection designs.
Phase two of the community consultation process, completed in 2020, proposed additional roundabouts on Kalamunda Road between Abernethy Road to Roe Highway, which the majority of the 29 survey respondents agreed on (62.1 per cent), while 31 per cent disagreed and 6.9 per cent remained neutral.
The design documents show the additional roundabouts for Kalamunda Road are to be located at Stirling Crescent and Cyril Road, alongside the closure of Range View Road to accommodate the new roundabout at Range Court and Hawkevale Road.
The city is seeking comments on the proposed changes here. Submissions close at 4pm on August 8.
