STIRLING councillors have shelved the possibility of downgrading the busy Liege Street in Innaloo.
After concerns from residents, Cr Stephanie Proud called for a report on the feasibility of downgrading the road – between Scarborough Beach Road and Pearson Street – to a local access road to reduce traffic and driver speeds.
“There’s up to 20,000 cars a day going down there and it’s not a main arterial road – it’s two lanes, one each way,” Cr Proud said at a council meeting last week.
“For residents, the traffic has become so bad that people can’t get in or out of their driveways… it’s a traffic quagmire.”
Classed a District Distributor ‘B’ road by the City, the road has a 50 km/h speed limit and can carry between 7000 and 20,000 cars a day. It currently caters for about 15,000 cars a day.
“Liege Street previously carried between 21,000 and 22,000 vehicles per day in the early 1990s,” the report noted.
Potential downgrading of the road could cut the numbers to 3000 cars a day, but City staff considered that was unlikely unless the City went ahead with “a full cul-de-sac closure” at one end of the road.
Closing the road at the Pearson Street intersection could cost about $100,000.
While councillors who spoke on the matter acknowledged the road needed improvement, they ultimately opted not to downgrade the street because it could pose problems for the nearby road network.
Instead, the City will liaise with the Stirling Alliance to investigate possible short-term options to reduce traffic flows.
“I’m incredibly pleased for the residents because something needs to be done to alleviate the traffic,” Cr Proud said after the meeting.