- Open date
25 February 2022
- Closing date
25 February 2022
Last update date: 28 July 2025
Main Roads WA plans to sink West Coast Highway into a 2 km, three-lane trench. Your feedback is vital to keep Scarborough a top beachside destination.
Main Roads WA has released a ‘fly through’ of its concept design for West Coast Highway in Scarborough and is seeking feedback through a community survey. The concept includes:
- Sinking West Coast Highway in an open 3 lane road trench extending 2 kms from West Coast Terrace to Ventnor Street
- A reversible central lane to cater for peak traffic flows
- Surface roads for local traffic parallel with the trench
- Bridge connections at Brighton Road, Scarborough Beach Road and Manning Street to provide east-west vehicle and pedestrian access
- An additional right turn vehicle access, over the trench, into the White Sands site
- Additional mid-block pedestrian crossings.
The road trench concept is primarily intended to cater for Main Roads WA’s projected growth in through traffic from the current 35,000 vehicles per day to an estimated 50,000 vehicles per day by 2041.
At its meeting on 14 September 2021 Council acknowledged the need for an agreed transport and access solution for Scarborough and provided conditional support for a plan to widen West Coast Highway subject to Main Roads WA undertaking an urban design study and community engagement on transport and access options. The minutes from the Council meeting can be accessed here.
The City encourages you to view the Main Roads WA ‘fly through’ and share your thoughts on the road trench concept with Main Roads WA via its feedback survey which can be accessed using the below link.
Your feedback will help inform the future planning of West Coast Highway in Scarborough.
FAQs
As the works are located within the Scarborough Redevelopment Area, Main Roads WA will require development approval from DevelopmentWA.
However, planning authority for the area is anticipated to be returned to the City by the end of 2022 after which Main Roads WA can undertake works within Main Roads WA roads, such as West Coast Highway, without planning approval.
Traffic bridges over the lowered road of the intersection of Brighton Road, Scarborough Beach Road and Manning Street will include footpaths to accommodate east-west pedestrian movement.
Smaller dedicated pedestrian crossing points are also proposed mid-block between Scarborough Beach Road and Manning Street and between Scarborough Beach Road and Brighton Road.
The Main Roads WA concept includes crossing points for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists that collectively account for approximately 120-130 metres (<5%) of the 2 km sunken road structure.
Large section of the sunken road structure (>95%) will not be accessible for east-west movement.
Main Roads WA proposes to install trees within the West Coast Highway verge, subject to sufficient verge width to ensure trees to be adequately setback from the surface road carriageway.
Additional landscaping could be provided within any areas of extended cover over the sunken road.
The concept is currently unfunded and has no construction timeframe.
For more information, visit the MRWA website, www.mainroads.wa.gov.au, or email enquiries@mainroads.wa.gov.au.
