The $78 million Reid Highway extension and bridges construction in Caversham is on track to open in February providing the project stays on track without unforeseeable delays.
Over the last 12 months, Macmahon has worked closely with Main Roads on a 2.6 kilometre upgrade of the highway to extend the road link between Perth’s eastern suburbs, the coast and the Swan Valley.
“If we continue to make good headway, the highway extension will open towards the end of February 2010,” said John Ransom, Project Construction Manager for Macmahon.
By early December, the last beams of the new bridge over the Swan River were secured and structural work on the smaller Jane Brook bridge and Road A bridge (west of the new Swan River bridge) had reached the final stages.
“With the structural work almost completed, our focus then turns to the next stage such as asphalting the roads, erecting barriers, installing street lighting and beautifying the area with landscaping and re-vegetation,” Mr Ransom said.
New traffic lights will replace the temporary roundabout at the intersection with the Great Northern Highway, but until then motorists should continue to expect traffic switches at the roundabout to allow work to continue on the intersection upgrade.
“The new intersection will bring significant flow-through improvements to help cope with the inevitable increases in heavy traffic over the coming years,” said Mr Ransom.
There will be more turning capacity at the intersection, with double right-hand turning lanes for east and west-bound traffic, and the lanes will be lengthened to allow for longer vehicles to manoeurvre the turns more comfortably.
The new extension replaces Middle Swan Road and connects the Reid Highway with the intersection of Great Northern and Roe Highways, just north of the rapidly expanding town of Midland.