BATEMAN residents fighting to get relief from freeway traffic noise have enlisted the Liberal candidate for March’s election to get a petition into WA Parliament’s Upper House.
Trenton Campbell heads up the George Welby Park Action Group and has been fighting a 14-year battle with Main Roads to get a three-metre sound wall along their stretch of the freeway.
“About 45 years ago, the freeway went through here, and it was only the two lanes,” Mr Campbell told the Herald.
“They then put an extension through here – another lane – and at that time they removed a big 2.5 metre high earth bund, which stopped a bit of the noise, and it’s never been replaced.
“Now, if you drive from Pinjarra all the way to Perth, and you look at the multi-billions of dollars of have been spent on these walls all the way down, there is only two places in all that distance there’s no wall; one’s at Fiona Stanley Hospital, the other one’s at George Welby Park.”
• Trenton Campbell, showing 86db of noise from the freeway, with Nitin Vashtish (second from right).
Mr Campbell says there’s just a 300-metre open stretch and he can’t understand why they can’t get it plugged.
He says Main Roads claimed to have done sound checks which found the noise was within acceptable levels, but eventually they fessed up that the monitors were placed three blocks away.
“I’ve managed to trip them up on so many occasions,” he says.
Mr Campbell said he’s had no luck trying to go through the City of Melville, Labor MP Kim Giddens’ office or even her predecessor, former Liberal transport minister Dean Nalder.
“I’ve contacted everyone,” he says. “Living in this area has become unbearable.
Peter McKenzie lives in one of the 30-odd houses most affected by the freeway noise.
“The real noise comes during summer and we have a light rain, or in winter if there is a little bit of moisture on the road; the traffic is just horrendous,” Mr McKenzie said.
He says even sitting in their back patio with a garage and a wall to their neighbour’s house blocking them from the park, the noise barely stops except during peak hour when traffic is forced to slow to a crawl.
“We’ve got friends who live just up the road on top of the hill, and the noise they have is absolutely unbelievable.
“Main Roads used to say, ‘oh, but the trees will act as a bunting’; well, they did some research and trees don’t act as a sound barrier – never have.”
Recently Liberal candidate Nitin Vashisht took up their cause and organised for Upper House colleague Tjorn Sibma to submit a 105-signature petition asking the House to direct Main Roads to install a barrier.
“My community deserves better,” Mr Vashisht said.
“It’s unacceptable that after all these years, residents are still being ignored by their elected representatives.”
The Chook will follow up with Main Roads’ response when they get back to us.
by STEVE GRANT