Background

The City seeks your feedback about the proposed modification of the streetscape of Rockingham Road, Hamilton Hill, between Cockburn Road and Phoenix Road.

The City intends to reduce Rockingham Road to one lane in each direction and install median islands and a regional standard shared path for cyclists and pedestrians along the north and east side of the road.

When: The project would be staged, subject to funding, with the first stage from Cockburn Road to Carrington Street proposed to start mid-year.

What: This would allow for a 3-metre wide asphalt shared path and address community concerns about the ability of pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road safely and conveniently. The construction of this path was identified in the City’s 2010 Bike Plan but was delayed while the City dealt with constraints along the road such as power poles and the limited space available.

More Details

The intention is to use one of the traffic lanes for the shared path and modify Rockingham Road to have one traffic lane in each direction, separated by a median island. Reducing Rockingham Road to two traffic lanes is consistent with the existing road layout through Spearwood, south of Spearwood Avenue, and Munster and the planned layout between Phoenix Road and Spearwood Avenue in front of the Phoenix Shopping Centre.

The City is confident that the road will still operate at an acceptable level with a single traffic lane in either direction because the daily volume of traffic on this section of Rockingham Road (12,500-13,500 vehicles per day) is less than a number of other single lane roads in the region including:

• Rockingham Road, south of Spearwood Avenue 16,000 vehicles per day;
• Cockburn Road, south of Rockingham Road 18,000 vehicles per day;
• South Street, White Gum Valley 20,000 vehicles per day;
• Farrington Road, east of North Lake Road 21,000 vehicles per day.

The 3-metre wide median treatment will be a combination of a flush asphalt treatment with traffic islands where necessary and it will create opportunities to:

• Install refuge islands at locations along the road to provide much safer and more frequent opportunities for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road to/from shops, schools, bus stops, etc;
• Provide an area for vehicles to safely wait for an opportunity to turn right into side streets and driveways, minimising delays to continuing vehicles;
• Slowly pass, when it is safe to do so, buses or waste trucks that are briefly stopping by the side of road;
• Possibly install trees in the middle of the road to improve street appearance.

The asphalt shared path will be separated from the road by a 1-metre wide safety buffer that can be used to place bins on bin collection day. Ongoing design will address issues such as whether embayments are needed at bus stops where buses stop for longer periods of time, and how the path can be treated at intersections to give greater priority to path users.

This will improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists travelling along or crossing Rockingham Road which is particularly important considering that there were four crashes involving pedestrians in this section of road in the last five years, and one resulted in a fatality.

Have Your Say

We invite you to view the concept drawings here or at the City’s Administration Building and Spearwood Public Library at 9 Coleville Crescent, Spearwood and then provide your feedback by Friday 20 April by one of the following methods:

• Complete the online survey below
• Send an email
• Contact the City’s Transport Team on 9411 3444 during business hours.

Previous Consultation

In September/October 2017, the City sought public input about creating two bike and walk paths - one along Rockingham Road and one along the BP oil pipeline reserve. That feedback was used to support a design grant funding application. The majority of submissions received, including from local cycling and community groups, supported the proposal.